When AMA Victoria, under the presidency of Dr Jill Tomlinson, launched the Getting Rid of Stupid Stuff (GROSS) campaign in early 2025, one issue emerged almost immediately as a recurring source of frustration for members: the duplication of mandatory training across Victorian public health services. Doctors working across multiple hospitals described repeatedly completing identical training modules- hand hygiene being perhaps the best example- despite having already demonstrated the same competencies elsewhere. It was a clear example of unnecessary administrative burden: time diverted from patient care without any corresponding improvement in safety or quality.
The Department of Health has now released its Recognition of Prior Learning Framework, marking a significant milestone for the GROSS campaign and reflecting AMA Victoria's advocacy to reduce unnecessary duplication in mandatory training. The Framework establishes a consistent statewide approach to recognising mandatory training completed across Victorian public health services, reducing the need for doctors working across multiple health services to repeatedly complete the same training modules.
Duplicated mandatory training exemplified a broader issue identified through GROSS. Members also highlighted repeated credentialling and onboarding processes, duplicative Working With Children Checks despite Ahpra registration, repeated police checks and numerous other administrative requirements that, while individually modest, collectively consume substantial professional time. Those examples reinforced a broader point: low-value administrative processes are not simply an inconvenience; they represent a genuine cost to doctors and to the health system.
That thinking has increasingly shaped AMA Victoria's advocacy. The conversation that began with GROSS has broadened to recognising doctors' professional time and, more recently, the wider cost of doctoring. That encompasses the direct financial costs of practising medicine, including registration fees, College fees, indemnity insurance, taxes and government levies. It also includes the growing administrative burden, duplicated compliance requirements and the opportunity cost of professional time that could otherwise be devoted to patient care. Recent advocacy regarding witnessing legal documents and completing death certificates reflects the same underlying principle: doctors' time, expertise and professional judgement should be appropriately recognised.
The Recognition of Prior Learning Framework is an encouraging example of practical advocacy delivering tangible change. The same principle should now be applied more broadly to credentialling and onboarding processes, duplicative Working With Children Checks, repeated police checks and the many other administrative burdens identified by members. More broadly, it reinforces an important principle that continues to shape AMA Victoria's advocacy: doctors' professional time should be appropriately recognised and valued.