Apr 28 2008
At a 'Medical Training Summit' taking place in Darwin some of Australia's best medical brains are getting together to examine medical training in the Northern Territory.
An independent review last year highlighted 10 key recommendations and picked out widespread failings in the structure and coordination of medical training in the Territory and the sustainability of the system, as issues needing to be tackled.
The 'think tank' involving around 100 health and training professionals will spend two days planning for the future education, training and management of the Northern Territory's medical workforce.
Dr. David Ashbridge head of the Territory Health Department says the summit will address those issues and get everyone on the same path forward, cooperating and coordinating so efforts can be maximised.
Dr. Ashbridge says short term to medium term strategies already exist on how to better organise the existing resources and to improve coordination both locally and nationally.
He believes such goals are imminently achievable but the long term vision for what the medical workforce in the Northern Territory is something to work towards.
The Australian Medical Association (AMA) has welcomed the summit and says a serious workforce deficiency exists in NT.
The AMA says it is willing to help improve the numbers and improve the efficiency in the Territory, particularly regarding Indigenous people whose general health standards fall below those of other people.
Dr. Ashbridge says there are always shortages of doctors and their largest shortfall is in general practitioners and primary care doctors.
Dr. Ashbridge says they need to ensure that the right sort of doctors are in NT in the right numbers in order to meet needs.
The summit will also look at post-graduate training and retention and how to build an indigenous medical workforce and what is needed in terms of getting Aboriginal students into medical school.