RANZCO SEEKS REASSURANCES FROM QUEENSLAND HEALTH #qldpol #smoqld #keepourdoctors
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO) is extremely concerned about current developments in the Queensland Health specialist contract dispute. As the body responsible for the training of all ophthalmologists in Australia and New Zealand, and the accreditation of the hospitals in which they train, RANZCO is particularly concerned that senior doctors may leave the public health system.
RANZCO President Dr Stephen Best explained the effect this would have:
“This would have a major impact on the eye-care needs of the community, the quality of clinical services, the accreditation of hospitals as training posts and the training of future ophthalmologists,” said Dr Best.
“It is not a simple process to replace specialist doctors.
“Given Australia’s reputation for having one of the best training programs in the world, we do not see that overseas trained specialists will necessarily be suitable educators.
“We support the position statement by the Committee of Presidents of Medical Colleges that the Australian community is entitled to expect that medical specialists will be trained to high standards of competence under appropriate supervision to ensure the provision of high quality, safe patient care.
“Queensland’s eye-care needs are particularly high for the indigenous population. Queensland ophthalmologists have a very good reputation for seeing to these needs, but without public hospital ophthalmologists and stable future training in Queensland this will inevitably decline.
“We are calling for a rapid and appropriate solution from Queensland Health that will see the current standards and numbers of appropriate senior doctors maintained,” said Dr Best.
Source: The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Ophthalmologists (RANZCO)