Yesterday in Parliament the Australian Society of Anaesthetists launched its timely, and important, Anaesthetist Workforce Modelling Final Report.
Hosted by Dr Mike Freelander MP, Chair of Parliament’s Standing Committee on Health and Aged Care, the report details a sobering assessment of the sustainability of Australia’s anaesthetist workforce.
ASA President and Vice President, Drs Mark Sinclair and Vida Viliunas, presented the report’s findings, which make clear that there is a shortage of anaesthetists in Australia that will worsen if not addressed now. The good news, however, is that the scale of the problem is easily remedied by governments.
The ASA was also joined by Associate Professor Dr Greg Jenkins, Chair of Trainee Selection at the Royal Australian College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and Dr Megan Belot, Immediate Past President of the Rural Doctors Association of Australia and a Rural Generalist (Anaesthetics). They spoke of the shared challenges of other specialities, particularly in regional, rural and remote communities.
The launch was attended by fellow specialists, Colleges and peak bodies, as well as numerous parliamentary representatives, including the office of Australian Minister for Health, the Hon Mark Butler MP, Shadow Minister for Health Senator Anne Ruston, and former Regional Health Minister Dr Dave Gillespie MP.
ASA recommendations
- Maintaining the current medical model of anaesthetic care ensures the safety and quality of outcomes.
- Anaesthetists are not likely or willing to increase hours worked in future. Increasing the number of trainee anaesthetists to meet demand is paramount.
- The ASA recommends that at least 50 more anaesthesia trainees are employed each year across the 150 ANZCA accredited hospital sites in Australia (one-third of them in rural locations). This will provide a relatively straightforward solution at a reasonable cost.
- State Government Departments of Health will of course have to share the responsibility here as ANZCA has no control over the number of trainees working at accredited sites; this is the responsibility of the government departments which fund and run these hospitals (mostly state-based). ANZCA’s only role here is to accredit these sites as providing appropriate training and experience.
- The current processes for credentialling specialist international medical graduates (SIMG) should be maintained.
- The ASA cautions against any reliance on short-term measures that may compromise standards, safety and quality.
- It is essential that more domestically qualified general practice (GP) anaesthetists are also trained.
- These doctors already provide excellent services in rural and remote locations, but more are needed. Current processes for credentialling GP anaesthetists should also be maintained.
Finally, there is evidence that providing incentives to specialist doctors to move to rural locations, both financial incentives and assistance with the logistics of taking on such roles, has been successful in the past. This was emphasised to attendees.
The ASA thanks all attendees and speakers for their participation and looks forward to working with them to ensure Australia’s health system continues to lead the world in quality, safety and patient outcomes.
That must begin with workforce sustainability.
