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RACGP ‘blindsided’ by controversial new IMG fast-tracking
Eligible overseas doctors will be granted upfront registration from the Medical Board, in a move labelled an ‘assault on the medical colleges’.
The program is set to begin in October 2024 for GPs, and in December for other specialties.
Internationally trained medical specialists will be handed a fast-tracked registration to work in Australia, under a new plan from AHPRA’s Medical Board.
Announced on Tuesday, the process will see eligible GPs, anaesthetists, obstetricians and gynaecologists, and psychiatrists recognised for their overseas qualifications and granted upfront registration.
The Board’s plan aims to see more medical specialists working on the ground in Australia, as rural and regional patients continue bear the brunt of healthcare worker maldistribution.
Consultation has now begun with specialist colleges, including the RACGP, to identify the comparable overseas qualifications.
However, RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins has been left ‘seething’ by the decision, which goes directly against stark warnings about the dangers of bypassing the colleges and their accreditation processes.
‘I was blindsided by the lack of respect shown by the Medical Board when we had been working closely with them in good faith to ensure good outcomes,’ she told newsGP.
‘They have released this whilst we’re still undergoing consultation and it’s deeply disappointing, it’s disrespectful to the process.
‘We can’t trade off safety for numbers – our community deserves better than that.’
Once it is up and running, the new process will sit alongside the existing assessment systems, and those granted registration will have initial conditions placed on them.
The Medical Board said if a doctor has an eligible qualification, they will not need to apply to the college for an assessment; instead, they will be able to apply directly to the Board for registration.
The specialist will then work under supervision for six months while completing requirements including cultural safety, and an orientation to the Australian healthcare system.
Upon meeting these requirements, they will then be granted unconditional specialist registration.
Fellowship of a specialist medical college will not be an automatic outcome of the new pathway.
The decision comes after last year’s Kruk Report recommended a more streamlined process for international medical graduates to work in Australia.
Following this, the RACGP committed to simplifying many of its assessments and requirements.
‘Throughout the Kruk Report review process, we had strongly come out warning the Government of the unintended consequences if they didn’t listen to the colleges,’ Dr Higgins said.
‘The RACGP has already adapted and responded to the Kruk Report, and we want to ensure that we make things as easy and as streamlined as possible.
‘We get bums on seats, and we do that from day one, and those doctors are supported so that they’re safe and their communities are safe.’
Medical Board member and Specialist IMG Taskforce lead Dr Susan O’Dwyer said the Board is ‘pulling out all stops’ to make the changes safely and effectively.
‘The goals of an expedited pathway would be to have more well qualified, specialist IMGs to better meet the Australian community’s medical needs with quicker specialist registration for qualified and competent SIMGs and with fewer barriers,’ she said.
‘There should be greater certainty for SIMGs that they will be registered and able to practise in their specialty, making Australia a more desirable destination.’
The program is set to begin in October 2024 for GPs, and in December for anaesthetics, obstetrics and gynaecology and psychiatry.
But Dr Higgins said with further consultation between the colleges and the Medical Board still set to take place, the RACGP will continue to fight against the plan.
‘To say I’m furious as an understatement – our profession is under threat from so many burning fronts at the moment,’ she said.
‘This is an assault on the medical colleges’.
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