AMA (NSW) welcomes record-breaking number of interns to the medical profession
AMA (NSW) welcomes the record-breaking total of 850 new interns who will be starting their careers as doctors in NSW this week at hospitals around the state.
“A lot of people don’t realise it but once you’ve graduated with a degree in medicine there are still many years of training to gain the higher qualifications necessary to be a specialist or a GP,” AMA (NSW) Doctors-in-Training Committee Chair, Dr Kathryn Austin, said.
AMA (NSW) has been campaigning to fix the severe medical workforce shortages in this state and this influx of new doctors is an important step towards addressing that problem.
“Internship is a fun and exciting time during any doctor’s career but it can also be a tough one,” Dr Austin said.
“The most important support interns, residents and registrars receive from the health system is the education and training needed to obtain higher qualifications.
“Unfortunately, this aspect of junior doctors’ careers is not being given enough attention and if there are not sufficient numbers of training positions in the hospitals it will not be possible for the new graduates to become the specialists we need to solve the severe medical workforce shortages we have in many areas.
“NSW has fallen behind other states in protecting and funding junior doctor education and training. We run the risk of wasting the significant taxpayer investment in increased medical school places if there is not an equivalent investment in postgraduate training in our hospitals.
“One of the reasons for NSW falling behind in this area is a lack of effective industrial representation. The restrictive NSW industrial legislation prevents junior doctors from joining any union other than the HSU, which is not focused on junior doctor issues, has little knowledge or experience of medical training and workforce issues and has not addressed the deficiencies around training and education in the junior doctors’ award.
“The furore surrounding the HSU is an unnecessary distraction to the job of looking after junior doctors’ rights and we think doctors should be represented by a doctors-only union – like nurses have their own union to reflect their own unique needs within the health system,” Dr Austin said.
“More effective industrial representation will be an important part of ensuring the brand new doctors starting in our hospitals on Monday will get the support and training they need to go on to become the surgeons, physicians and GPs we need to address the current medical workforce shortages.
“We call on the NSW Government to make amendments to industrial legislation that will give junior doctors the freedom to choose which union they join,” Dr Austin said.
Media Contact: Lachlan Jones (02) 9902 8113 / 0419 402 955
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