FEATURE RECORD YEAR FOR INTERNS This year’s group of interns is another record-breaker in NSW, as nearly 1000 graduates embark on their medical careers. The AMA (NSW) / ASMOF (NSW) Alliance welcomed the new <strong>doctor</strong>s to the state’s health system in late January. 12 I THE NSW DOCTOR I MARCH/APRIL 2016
The number of interns in 2016 is a slight increase over last year, with 983 finding places in NSW compared to 980 in 2015. “It’s a good thing that this is another record cohort, as it will help NSW solve its <strong>doctor</strong> shortage and help the system cope with massive demands in healthcare,” said Dr Danielle McMullen, Chair of the Doctors-in-Training Committee (DITC). The Alliance visited every teaching hospital in the state to meet with interns during Orientation Week and discuss the advantages of becoming a member. This is the fourth year of the AMA (NSW) / ASMOF (NSW) Alliance and its reputation for providing assistance to junior <strong>doctor</strong>s is growing. Doctor representatives highlighted some of the big wins the Alliance has had for DITs in recent years. Since July 2013, ASMOF (NSW) has helped DITs recover approximately $4 million in wages for ADOs, long service leave, maternity leave, meal breaks, overtime and call-backs, and assisted DITs when an alleged overpayment has occurred. The Alliance is also in the process of renegotiating the Award to improve conditions for <strong>doctor</strong>s-in-training at NSW hospitals. “It’s important to ensure sound industrial protection for junior <strong>doctor</strong>s, and that’s why ASMOF has prioritised renegotiating and improving the <strong>doctor</strong>s-in-training Award,” Dr McMullen said. Meanwhile, AMA (NSW) has been at the forefront of the battle to ensure all medical graduates get an intern place. Together with AMSA, we have been successful in persuading the NSW Government to guarantee an intern place for all domestic graduates. AMA (NSW) has also lobbied the Federal Government to fund additional intern places for overseas students. The focus has now shifted to ensure there are enough college positions. During the 2015 NSW election campaign, the State Government agreed with AMA (NSW)’s requests to fund 60 new registrar positions over the next four years. Despite the boost, more work is needed in this area. “A <strong>doctor</strong>’s medical training does not begin and end at university,” Dr McMullen said. “We continue our training throughout our careers and the interns have two major bottlenecks and many years ahead of them before they are the specialists and GPs we need. “Governments, both State and Federal, need to work together to ensure that adequate training places are available to make sure all interns can complete this on-the-job training.” In December last year, following pressure from the AMA, the Federal Government committed $94 million to support regional training in its Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook (MYEFO). As part of the new rural health workforce initiatives, the Government committed to the creation of a new Integrated Rural Training Pipeline that will help to retain medical graduates in rural areas by better coordinating the different stages of training within regions. There are three components to the new initiative, including 30 new regional training hubs, over $10 million per year into a new Rural Junior Doctor Training Innovation Fund and a targeted expansion of the Specialist Training Programme to provide up to 100 new training places in rural areas. The other major area of concern that the Alliance is continuing to address is bullying and sexual harassment in medicine. “I want the interns of 2016 to know that there is help available if you find yourself being bullied or harassed and that with all the focus on the issue, access to that help is going to get easier,” Dr McMullen said. The Alliance is lobbying the Government to adopt specific processes for junior <strong>doctor</strong>s, and for those members experiencing problems we can provide confidential and expert assistance. dr. INTERNSHIPS BY HOSPITAL SYDNEY HOSPITALS Auburn 10 Balmain 3 Bankstown-Lidcombe and Camden 46 & Campbelltown Blacktown-Mount Druitt 42 Blue Mountains 3 Calvary Healthcare Sydney 2 Canterbury Hospital and Concord 42 Repatriation General Hospital Liverpool and Fairfield hospitals 51 Hornsby 35 Nepean 50 Hawkesbury District Health Service 6 Prince of Wales 36 Royal North Shore 44 Royal Prince Alfred 46 Ryde 11 St George 43 St Vincent’s 29 Sutherland 24 Westmead 70 RURAL AND REGIONAL HOSPITALS Albury 5 Armidale 3 Bathurst 5 Belmont 12 Bulli 4 Calvary Mater 22 Broken Hill 3 Coffs Harbour 19 Dubbo 12 Griffith 2 Gosford 35 John Hunter 51 Lismore 14 Maitland 6 Manning 6 Orange 17 Port Kembla 1 Port Macquarie 16 Royal Newcastle Centre 2 The Mater – HNE Mental Health 5 Shellharbour 4 Shoalhaven 7 Tamworth 18 Tweed Heads 18 Wagga Wagga 22 Wollongong 49 Wyong 26 amansw.com.au I 13
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