August 2024

In this month's issue:

• Chair’s message
• Medical Board of Australia news
  • Registration renewal now open
  • Medical Training Survey now open
  • Specialist IMG reforms on track
  • Vacancies on the NSW and ACT Medical Boards
  • Updated visual guide for cosmetic surgery advertising
  • Accreditation: providing high-quality education and training
• Consultations
  • Medical Board consults on new approach to keep late-career doctors in safe practice
• News and alerts
  • Information for doctors doing medical assessments for seafarers
• Medical regulation at work
  • Latest tribunal decisions published
• Contacting the Board

Chair’s message

The likelihood of health impairment increases with age, including for doctors. Doctors aged 70 and over are also 81 per cent more likely to be the subject of a complaint, compared with younger colleagues. The Board is consulting now on options to keep late-career doctors in safe practice. We’re considering general health checks for doctors from age 70 and would like to hear your views.

Dr Anne Tonkin AO
Chair, Medical Board of Australia

Medical Board of Australia news

Registration renewal now open

It’s that time of year. Registration renewal is now open for medical practitioners with general, specialist and non-practising registration.

The fee for 2024/25 is $1,027, rising by less than CPI this year, and $956 in NSW. More information is on the Fees page. Registration fees fund the work of Ahpra and the National Boards to keep the public safe.

You can find general renewal information on the Ahpra renewal page and FAQs for medical practitioners on the Medical Board website.

You will have received your renewal email from Ahpra, with details and links.

When you renew your registration for 2024 you will need to tell us the name of your CPD home.

Apply to renew early to avoid delays at our busiest time, especially if you are making a declaration. Renewal is online – you can pay by credit card or debit card.

Medical Training Survey now open

The Medical Training Survey (MTS) is now open, generating invaluable, longitudinal data that is being used to improve medical training.

Past MTS results exposing fault lines in the culture of medicine are now being used across the health sector to drive improvements in medical training.

More than half Australia’s doctors in training do the MTS each year.

Interns and international medical graduates have received their unique survey link in an email invitation from the Medical Board. All other doctors in training can access their unique survey link when they renew their medical registration.

MTS results are collated, published online and publicly accessible, providing the most comprehensive national data-source about medical training.

Each year, the Board reviews MTS questions. We balance the value of a consistent, longitudinal dataset with updates to questions that ensure the MTS tracks current and emerging issues in medical training.

In 2024, a new question separates sexual harassment from other forms of harassment. The change responds to stakeholder requests for more detail, enabling health services, educators and training providers to address and eliminate this behaviour from medical workplaces. We will also be asking interns if they felt their medical school education prepared them for their internship.

Stringent privacy controls make it safe and confidential for trainees to do the MTS. The Board cannot access individual’s responses.

For more information on the survey visit MedicalTrainingSurvey.gov.au.

Specialist IMG reforms on track

Reforms to streamline the path to registration for specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs) are on track.

The regulatory platform for the reforms – a revised registration standard for specialist registration – is on the way to health ministers.

Thanks to all 100+ stakeholders who shared valuable feedback in the recent consultation on the draft standard. Your ideas helped shape the final draft, which health ministers will now review and potentially approve.

The registration standard is the regulatory tool that paves the way for a range of SIMG reforms, including a new fast-track pathway to specialist registration for internationally qualified medical specialists.

The expedited pathway is on track to open in October 2024, initially for GPs, then anaesthetists, obstetricians and gynaecologists, and psychiatrists (in line with jurisdictional priorities).

We are working with the Australian Medical Council (AMC) and relevant specialist colleges to identify the list of qualifications that will be the gateway to the expedited pathway. With colleges, we are also looking closely at the alignment of pathways to college fellowship for SIMGs on the expedited pathway.

In parallel, we are examining the current specialist pathway for all specialties, identifying opportunities to streamline the process. The current pathway will continue for SIMGs who are not eligible for the expedited pathway.

In all this work, the Board will work closely with specialist colleges on options to improve and streamline the experience for SIMGs seeking registration in Australia. Our goal is to remove unnecessary regulatory barriers and increase the number of SIMGs seeing patients in Australia, while maintaining high standards.

Submissions to the consultation will be published on the Medical Board’s Past consultations page.

Vacancies on the NSW and ACT Medical Boards

There are vacancies for registered medical practitioners and community members on the NSW Board of the Medical Board of Australia.

There is also a vacancy for a community member on the ACT Board.

Applications close Sunday 18 August 2024.

To apply and for more information visit Ahpra’s Statutory appointments page.

Updated visual guide for cosmetic surgery advertising

Our advertising audit has revealed a big lift in the quality of cosmetic surgery advertising.

Thanks to all doctors who have made the effort to update their advertising to comply with the cosmetic surgery advertising guidelines, in place since July 2023.

We’ve updated our visual guidelines, to help you comply with the rules, address the most common gaps revealed by the audit and answer your queries.

If you advertise cosmetic surgery, here are some dos and don’ts.

Do:

• include your Ahpra registration details (including type of registration) in biographies or lists of practitioners, for example:

Dr <First name Surname> MED0000123456 Registered medical practitioner (general registration)
Dr <First name Surname> MED0000234567 Specialist general practitioner (specialist registration in general practice)

• use the clinical terminology each time you use a non-clinical term such as tummy tuck
• include enough information about risks.

Don’t:

• use ‘after’ photos that enhance the effects of the procedures – such as patients holding different poses or wearing clothing that makes them look better, or photos that have been digitally edited or enhanced
• use the tag function as a way to include patient’s posts in your social media. These may be considered testimonials – which are not permitted. Turn the tagging function off.

And a reminder: The title ‘surgeon’ can only be used by medical practitioners who hold specialist registration in surgery, ophthalmology or obstetrics and gynaecology. We are enforcing this new law.

The updated visual guide is on the Board’s FAQs and fact sheets page.

Accreditation: providing high-quality education and training

The Board has approved the following:

Specialist medical college programs of study

Consultations

Medical Board consults on new approach to keep late-career doctors in safe practice

The Board is consulting on three options to keep late-career doctors in safe practice, while protecting patients from risk caused by any undetected or unmanaged health issues.

The likelihood of health impairment increases with age – affecting doctors as much as everyone else in the community. Ahpra data shows doctors aged over 70 are 81 per cent more likely to be the subject of a notification compared with those under 70. The rate of notifications related to health impairment is more than three times higher for doctors over 70 compared with younger colleagues. The issues raised in notifications also change with practitioner age, with complaints relating to physical illness or cognitive decline 15.5 times higher for older doctors than for doctors aged 36 to 60 years.

Doctors have a reputation as reluctant patients, and the Board is concerned they don’t always seek the care they need.

General health checks for doctors every three years from age 70, and annually from 80 could prevent risk to patients from undetected or unmanaged health issues among late-career medical practitioners. Like all public health screening, general health checks aim to detect issues early so they can be managed, keeping late-career doctors in safe practice.

The Board’s goal is to safely extend the careers of late-career doctors by preventing avoidable risk to patients. Information gained in the health checks would enable doctors to address any emerging health issues and continue to practise safely, controlling the later stages of their careers.

A public consultation on the issue is now open, with details of three options set out in the consultation regulation impact statement:

1. keep the status quo and do nothing extra to ensure late-career doctors are healthy and able to provide safe care
2. introduce an extensive and detailed ‘fitness to practise’ assessment for all doctors aged 70 and older, to be conducted by specialist occupational physicians, or
3. introduce general health checks with a GP for late-career doctors aged 70 and older, to support early detection of concerns with the opportunity for management before the public is at risk.

The proposed general health checks would be similar to existing Medicare-funded general health checks provided by GPs for patients aged over 75.

Under the proposal, results of general health checks would be confidential between the late-career doctor and their treating practitioner and would NOT be provided to the Board routinely.

The Board’s approach is data-driven and risk-based, aimed at a proportionate response. Extensive research linking advanced practitioner age to increasing risk to patients is detailed in the consultation paper.

Please share your views. Read the consultation regulation impact statement on the Current consultation page. The media release is on the Medical Board website.

News and alerts

Information for doctors doing medical assessments for seafarers

Certificates of medical fitness were introduced by the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) to ensure seafarers are fit to perform their job at sea and increase safety in the maritime industry.

To streamline processes, the form for the medical assessments for domestic seafarers was updated in July.

Doctors assess seafarers against the AMSA Standards for the medical examination of domestic seafarers.

All commercial seafarers require a medical assessment for a new certificate of competency and/or renewal. The frequency of medical assessments varies between one and four years, depending on the seafarer’s age. Annual checks are required for seafarers over 61 years.

Assessments are usually done by GPs but can be done by any registered medical practitioner. The eyesight component of the test can be done by a medical practitioner or an optometrist.

The new form and more information is available on the AMSA website.

Medical regulation at work

Latest tribunal decisions published

There are important lessons in tribunal decisions about registered medical practitioners. The Medical Board of Australia refers the most serious concerns about medical practitioners to tribunals in each state and territory. Here is a recently published decision:

• a Victorian doctor had his registration cancelled for misleading colleagues, breaching his registration conditions, and risking his patients’ access to their medications after closing his medical clinic (Medical Board of Australia v Mbachilin).

Publication of panel, court and tribunal decisions

Ahpra, on behalf of the 15 National Boards, publishes a record of panel, court and tribunal decisions about registered health practitioners.

When investigating a notification, the Medical Board may refer a medical practitioner to a health panel hearing, or a performance and professional standards panel hearing. Under the National Law, panel hearings are not open to the public. Ahpra publishes a record of panel hearing decisions made since July 2010. Practitioners’ names are not published, consistent with the National Law.

Summaries of tribunal and court cases are published on the Court and tribunal decisions page of the Ahpra website. The Board and Ahpra sometimes choose not to publish summaries, for example about cases involving practitioners with impairment.

In New South Wales and Queensland, different arrangements are in place. More information is available on Ahpra’s website on the How to raise a concern about a health practitioner page.

Contacting the Board

The Medical Board of Australia and Ahpra can be contacted by phone on 1300 419 495.

For more information, see the Medical Board of Australia website and the Ahpra website.

Lodge an enquiry form through the website under Contact us at the bottom of every web page. 

Mail correspondence can be addressed to: Dr Anne Tonkin AO, Chair, Medical Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne, VIC 3001.

More information

Please note: Practitioners are responsible for keeping up to date with the Board’s expectations about their professional obligations. The Board publishes standards, codes and guidelines as well as alerts in its newsletter. If you unsubscribe from this newsletter you are still required to keep up to date with information published on the Board’s website.

Comments on the Board newsletter are welcome, send your feedback and suggestions to newsletters@ahpra.gov.au.

For registration enquiries or contact detail changes, call the Ahpra customer service team on 1300 419 495 (from within Australia).