26 September 2005

State and territory governments seek ACCC intervention to ensure more surgical training places

NSW Minister for Health, John Hatzistergos today said the NSW Government has joined with all other states and territories to ask the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission for urgent assistance to enable more doctors to receive training to become surgeons.

Mr Hatzistergos said NSW Health would become part of a national effort to overturn the inaction of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons (RACS) on creating more training places.

"NSW wants to train a surgical workforce that is able to meet the needs of the community and we have identified that a minimum of 88 Basic Surgical Trainees should be starting their training in NSW in 2006," Mr Hatzistergos said.

"However, the College has indicated that it has only selected 63 NSW resident doctors for the 2006 intake.

"This cap on the number of basic surgical trainees in NSW could have a significant impact on our ability to train the number of local surgeons necessary to deliver services to our community.

"The NSW Government cannot sit back and allow the national College to restrict our capacity to deliver essential medical services.

"NSW has joined other states and territories in writing to the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) to express our concern over the College's inaction," said Mr Hatzistergos.

Last Tuesday the Chair of the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council wrote to the Chairman of the ACCC seeking the Commission's advice on this matter.

"It would be a tragedy if we lost the skills and enthusiasm of young NSW doctors because we could not provide them with the needed training positions," Mr Hatzistergos said.

"The Director General of NSW Health has also taken the unprecedented step of writing to all doctors in NSW who have applied for surgical training positions - and who may have been turned away by the College of Surgeons - to offer the Department's assistance to get on to the training program.

"The NSW Government has also highlighted education and training issues in its submission to the health workforce study being conducted by the Productivity Commission.

"The NSW surgical training program is now the best supported program in Australia.

"We have made a significant investment in the establishment of a new networked training program providing:

• Network Directors of Surgical Training;
• Network Medical Education Support Officers;
• Protected teaching time for trainees; and
• Trainee scholarships to reward the completion of additional rural terms.

"NSW Health has also undertaken to establish additional Advanced/Specialist Surgical Training positions to ensure that current, and any additional, Basic Surgical Trainees have a clear career path.

"If the college's concern is the number of Advanced/Specialist Surgical Training positions, let me give them this public commitment: Advanced/Specialist Surgical Training positions will be available to every Basic Surgical Trainee who successfully completes their basic surgical training.

"Despite these efforts, and after months of consultation and correspondence, from NSW and all other states and territories, the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons continues to resist increasing the size of the national 2006 intake to meet our needs.

"They have offered no consistent explanation for this position.

"We will continue to use all available avenues to ensure that:

• young NSW doctors are able to pursue satisfying careers in the public health system;
• NSW Health is able to recruit a sustainable surgical workforce; and
• the community continues to have access to the very best care in NSW hospitals," said Mr Hatzistergos.

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