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New doctors for Victoria’s public hospitals
13 January 2010.
AMA Victoria President Dr Harry Hemley today welcomed Victoria’s 557 new doctors to the public hospital system.
Dr Hemley congratulated the new interns on the transition from medical school to the public hospital system and said the increase in intern places – from 506 in 2009 to 557 this year – would provide a much-needed boost to the state’s medical workforce shortage.
"This year we have a record number of new doctors beginning work in the system and given the current workforce shortages and the state’s growing population, there has never been a better time for this boost," he said.
"These doctors will make an extremely valuable contribution to our hospitals and will provide much-needed support to experienced doctors who are working in the over-stretched public hospital system.
"Moving from study to medical practice is an exciting time. While the new interns have finished their university studies, as doctors they will never stop learning.
"Victoria’s new doctors are highly trained, committed and hard working. They have a long road ahead of them and deserve our encouragement and support."
On completion of a medical degree doctors must complete an intern year at a public hospital which includes rounds in a range of areas and country rotations. They are then able to undertake specialist training to become a physician, surgeon, general practitioner or psychiatrist, which takes five to seven years.
Dr Hemley said AMA Victoria was pleased the Victorian Government had committed to providing increased intern places to cater for the growing number of medical graduates but said there was still a large shortfall of specialist training places.
"Increasing the number of specialist training places is essential to ensure there are enough surgeons, physicians, psychiatrists, GPs and other specialists working in our health system in the future," he said.
"Increasing the number of specialist training places is difficult”, Dr Hemley said, “because of a shortage of experienced specialists to teach and train the new generation of doctors."
To address the shortfall of specialist teachers, AMA Victoria recently put a proposal to the Victorian Government to encourage recently retired specialists to return to the public hospital system as part-time educators and mentors.
"We need to ensure that our new doctors are given the opportunity to finish their training.”
"If we don’t find solutions to the shortage of specialist teachers and mentors, and increase the number of specialist training places, future waits for elective surgery and emergency care will become even longer."
Background:
The distribution of places for new doctors in Victoria is as follows:
|
Alfred Health |
52 |
|
Austin/Northern Health (joint recruitment) |
88 |
|
Ballarat Health Services |
18 |
|
Barwon Health (Geelong Hospital) |
36 |
|
Bendigo Health Care Group (Bendigo Base Hospital) |
15 |
|
Eastern Health (Box Hill Hospital) |
55 |
|
Gippsland Rural Intern Training Program |
5 |
|
Goulburn Valley Health |
21 |
|
Melbourne Health (Royal Melbourne Hospital) |
59 |
|
Mildura Base Hospital |
3 |
|
Peninsula Health (Frankston Hospital) |
37 |
|
Southern Health |
69 |
|
St Vincents Health (St Vincents Hospital) |
46 |
|
Western Health (Western Hospital) |
51 |
|
Wodonga Regional Health Service |
2 |
|
TOTAL |
557 |
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