Delay sought for expedited pathway rollout

Two medical colleges among those to be first impacted by a new expedited pathway program for overseas-trained doctors have renewed calls for its launched to be pushed back.
 
The RACGP and the Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists (ANZCA) both spoke out on Monday, airing renewed calls about the plan and its impacts on both international medical graduates (IMGs) and patients.
 
This new pathway is initially prioritising GPs and is set to launch later this month, before specialists with accepted qualifications in anaesthetics, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynaecology will be included in December.
 
Under the plan, eligible doctors would be recognised for their overseas qualifications and granted upfront registration in a bid to see more medical specialists working in Australia and addressing the current maldistribution of doctors.
 
RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins told newsGP that with the launch date looming, she has ‘deep concerns’ about the pathway.
 
‘We’ve got doctors coming into a new country, a new system, and that requires wraparound support and education about the health system, which is Medicare, and the MBS, and the PBS,’ she said.
 
‘There’s also context, so understanding the differences in rural and regional Australia and understanding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture.
 
‘These doctors usually come with families, and it’s a huge upheaval, and we need to make sure that we’ve got the right doctor, in the right community, with the right skills.’
 
The Medical Board’s lead on its specialist IMG (SIMG) taskforce Dr Susan O’Dwyer said previously the review is about ‘removing outdated regulatory barriers’ faced by IMGs.
 
‘The Board is pulling out all stops to create a safe and effective policy platform and make the necessary complex operational changes, to meet these deadlines and get more medical specialists at work in Australia quickly,’ she said.
 
‘The goals of an expedited pathway would be to have more well qualified, SIMGs to better meet the Australian community’s medical needs with quicker specialist registration for qualified and competent SIMGs and with fewer barriers.’
 
But ANZCA President Professor David Story said the concern for his professional cohort is the need for expert assessment of new doctors entering the Australian workforce.
 
‘Anaesthesia is a specialty where the potential for errors in judgement or errors in technique can lead to almost immediate patient harm, if not death, and also longer-term patient harm,’ he told newsGP.
 
‘Often things are fine, but when they’re not, there’s often immediate action that has to be taken, which means the communication has to be good, the understanding needs to be good.
 
‘So, we want to pause … step one is a pause, step two is to look at whether the better approach is, in fact, enhancing what we currently do rather than changing what we do.’
 
Dr Higgins shares these concerns, saying each medical profession needs its own set of skills and experience to work within an Australian context, especially in the regions.
 
‘Our concern is that, for example, for obstetrics and gynaecology the training in the UK is different and they most likely have not been trained with colposcopy skills or for instrumental deliveries, which are services that are essential if you’re working in rural and regional Australia,’ she said.
 
‘For the majority of doctors who are coming into the country who have got substantially comparable qualifications, it isn’t going to make a huge difference, but for those doctors who need extra support or are working in our most needy communities, they are the ones that I’m concerned for the most.
 
‘I want to be making sure that we’re being set up for success, and if the Medical Board is not ready, then delay it until it is so no doctors and no patients are worse off.’
 
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AHRPA IMGs international medical graduates Medical Board of Australia