A surge in the number of medical graduates and interns will challenge health administrators as the federal government holds talks with specialist colleges and other stakeholders over landmark reforms to workforce planning.
A report by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare will detail today how almost 30,000 extra medical practitioners have been added to the system over the past decade, as successive governments sought to address the shortages and maldistribution caused by an earlier decision to restrict doctor numbers in an ill-advised attempt to rein in health expenditure.
But the commonwealth may have overcorrected, allowing more doctors in some specialties than is required, yet less in others, along with ongoing shortages in regional and remote areas and a system still reliant on overseas graduates.
The Australian recently revealed that a review of intern training found they were being let down by the system, with new doctors often having little experience with patients and no concept of what was required of them.
With Health Minister Sussan Ley putting workforce issues on the agenda, the new chief executive of the Committee of Presidents of Medical Colleges, Nick Talley, said he believed the health sector was united on the need to better meet the needs of the community.
Professor Talley said the “bulge” in the number of students and interns would create challenges and in some areas exacerbate the problems of a mismatch in specialty numbers and community needs.
“We know there is maldistribution and both overproduction and underproduction, depending on specialty,” he said, noting the commonwealth’s decision to abolish Health Workforce Australia had delayed efforts to respond to the problems.
“For example, if you look at psychiatry we don’t have clearly enough (psychiatrists) but in intensive care perhaps too many (intensive care specialists).”