19 November 2004

Minister welcomes surgical training offer - talks to continue

Negotiations with the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons to increase the number of surgical trainees in New South Wales will continue, Health Minister Morris Iemma said today.

The Minister said the College’s offer of six additional surgical training places for New South Wales was a welcome improvement on the College’s earlier offers.

“The offer on the table now gives New South Wales 74 surgical trainees for 2005, an improvement on the original offer of 65, but still short of our original request for 82,” Mr Iemma said.

“NSW believes it has the capacity within the public hospital system to accommodate 82 trainees, and I will continue discussions with the RACS to achieve a good outcome for the community.

“I am pleased that we now have a constructive dialogue with the College that will help us deliver a sustainable medical workforce for NSW,” Mr Iemma said.

The Minister said he looked forward to further discussions with the RACS on delivering further gains for NSW.

“There is still a gap between NSW expectations and the College’s offer so there is still work to be done to close that gap,” Mr Iemma said.

“NSW has maintained from the outset that our public hospital system has the capacity and resources to accommodate more trainees, that has not changed,” Mr Iemma said.

The Minister also said NSW that even though NSW already had the highest number of Advanced Surgical Trainees (AST) per head of population in Australia, he remains committed to improving AST capacity through further discussion with the College.

“Our ultimate goal is to ensure that our medical workforce is able to meet the growth in demand for surgical services, we must do that in collaboration with the RACS.

“I am also committed to ensuring that we have the appropriate distribution of surgical trainees, that means making sure we get sufficient trainee surgeons into NSW rural and regional centres.

“Getting the numbers right for these areas will be a priority of our ongoing discussions with the RACS,” Mr Iemma said.

For a range of health information, go online to www.health.nsw.gov.au