Canberra Doctor Issue 2, 2022

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was “a good start, thoughonly a down-payment”.

“If we can get a new way ofdelivering general practicewe can start getting somedata that general practiceis an investment, not acost for the government,”Professor Robson said. “Weneed to make sure peopleunderstand that investing ingeneral practice keeps peoplehealthier, stops waste andkeeps people out of hospital.”

AMA is advising theFederal Governmentthrough its representationon the StrengtheningMedicare Taskforce.

Other priorities

Professor Robson said other major priorities of his presidency would be:

• continuing the major focus of former AMA president Dr Omar Khorshid on addressing the logjam in Australia’s public hospitals

• continuing to work with the Federal Government and other players to bring about reform of the private health sector

• initiatives that encourage doctors to choose to work in regional and rural Australia

• making healthcare sustainable for the sake of the environment

• addressing the human cost of healthcare, in view of

the enormous emotional, mental and physical toll of the pandemic years

Canberra prideProfessor Robson has a fondness for Canberra where he works as a local obstetrician and gynaecologist. He was AMA ACT president from 2016-18.

“Canberra has some of the best doctors in the country working right here and we ought to be proud of that,” he said. “But we have issues with the culture in our public hospitals and our general practices are stretched; our doctors need support.”

“We need the next generation of young Canberra doctors to want to stay here and support their local community,” he said.