At your service

After beginning with sincere thanks to his predecessor, Dr Michelle Atchison, new AMA(SA) President Dr John Williams gave his Gala Ball audience an overview of what brought him to medicine and his vision for his presidency.

Across the country, the AMA and its members – like our clinical peers around the world – have been trying to do what we do in the face of perplexing, unfathomable resistance. It is one of the most complex, fractious, and frustrating periods in our history – and probably in medical history.

I’d like to acknowledge the moral injury that has emerged and afflicted us - a pain inflicted by working in a health system that at times hobbles our ability to deliver the best care that could be given with our current medical knowledge.

There has been immense pressure placed on and carried by health workers in clinics and hospitals and practices, residential facilities and homes. But we have pulled together and maintained our commitment to working with each other and with our colleagues, for each other and for our patients.

I am the son of a farmer Gilbert from Brown Hill Creek then Angle Vale then Ungarra on the Eyre Peninsula, and Kay, a mid-wife, who worked in Cummins on the Eyre Peninsula.

I was encouraged to apply for university but was very surprised when I achieved to marks to enter medicine, and graduated from the University of Adelaide in 1993.

I worked at various metro hospitals, before returning to the University of Adelaide, this time to study music, a long-term interest that brings balance and creativity to my life.

I worked in various places around South Australia, including Strathalbyn, Woomera and metro Adelaide, achieving my GP fellowship along the way. I then spent three years in the UK, in hospitals and general practice.

We moved to Port Lincoln to care for my wife’s father who had a terminal illness, and soon discovered we had a child on the way. Port Lincoln has been a wonderful place to raise a child – beautiful surrounds, a less than five-minute commute and lovely schools.

During my 18 years in Port Lincoln I completed a masters of medicine in skin cancer management in Queensland.

My main professional interests are acute medicine, palliative and aged care, and skin cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Rural medicine really is in quite a state, demonstrated by small communities such as Streaky Bay where the local town council –usually involved in trash and road repairs – has stepped in using rate-payer funds to supply GP services. This really is market failure.

It’s in a regional area where you can clearly see the importance of the three pillars of practice: patient contact, which is the core and informs everything else; teaching and training; and research. You see how essential they are, how they work together to improve treatments and outcomes. You see the importance of building a positive culture of support with a team, skill improvement through self and other education, and empowerment through improving care, every day.

Managing doctors has been described as like trying to herd cats. But my experience is that when we talk about patient care and improving that service – it is much easier to unite doctors.

I’ve been an AMA member since university, and a member of the AMA(SA) Council for about eight years.

I’m intrigued and sustained by the insights and understandings of the mechanics of our health care system, and my involvement in the AMA has given me knowledge and perspective very difficult to obtain elsewhere.

I was invited by former President Dr Chris Moy to stand for Vice President to bring a rural perspective to AMA leadership in this state, as it was clear that rural medicine was struggling.

I bring to this role important characteristics. First, my experience as a rural GP.

I remember looking down over Port Lincoln Hospital during my first ED shift on call and thinking that anything that happens in Port Lincoln medically tonight I will have to deal with. Any accident. Any ambulance siren will be bringing them to me. Could I walk into the pubs and sports clubs and politely ask that everyone take it easy tonight?

But my experience really was that I felt more supported in Port Lincoln than in the Home Counties in England. I really experienced working in a team - GP and non-GP specialists, working collegially.

There was certainly a lot that I could deal with myself but being part of a team was and is really the most important thing.

Of course, as President I will and must serve as the representative of AMA members in the city, too.

While I believe that by fixing our most fragile services in public health we will find many of the solutions for the system as a whole, there are issues that require a close understanding of how they affect junior doctors and senior doctors, in the city or country, in public hospitals or private practice.

We have a health system in crisis, with ramping and surgery waiting lists just two signals of how difficult it is for patients to receive care.

We are still living with COVID-19 and its effects such as long COVID.

Perhaps most importantly, I’m looking forward to helping ensure our medical students and doctors in training are supported and can thrive in our thrilling and rewarding profession.

Taking patient care into the future, they will overcome challenges and embrace opportunities unknown to us today.

My time on Council and as Vice-President has increased my awareness of issues across our profession and the health system, and how these issues affect colleagues in all specialties and geographical areas.

My mission for my two-year term is to listen carefully to our members so that when I speak as President of the Australian Medical Association in this state, you will hear the collective voice of all South Australian doctors, all of us working for the improvement of health care and reduction in suffering of all South Australians.

Immediate Past President Dr Michelle Atchison warned her successor to set his alarm at 6.50 am and buy ‘three great suits’ during her farewell speech at the AMA(SA) Gala Ball on 20 May.

Dr Atchison said incoming President Dr John Williams should be ready for early-morning calls from ABC radio producers about ‘something you’ve never considered’ and have a change of clothes on hand for on-camera interviews.

The tips were among her hints for incoming AMA(SA) presidents, shared before she presented Dr Williams with the AMA(SA) President’s Medal.

Other tips were to record every meeting and phone call, carry extra AMA pins for official and social occasions, and to use the presidency as ‘a great excuse to buy nice clothes’.

‘Lastly,’ she added, ‘be kind to everyone. Kindness and a willingness to say yes opens doors.’

Speaking after a 40-minute presentation of magic from award-winning illusionist Matt Tarrant, Dr Atchison said she leaves the role ‘with feelings of sadness and satisfaction, and some disappointment’.

‘The disappointment comes because, as we all know, there are so many issues facing clinicians, and unfortunately there is so much to be done to support doctors, patients and communities to be able to give and receive the best health care possible,’ Dr Atchison said.

‘I feel sad, because I will miss many parts of this role – some of which I did not expect when I was elected President, even after my years on Council and my term as Vice-President to Dr Chris Moy.

‘As I’ve said many times in the past 24 months, there really is no way of knowing what it is like to be the President of the Australian Medical Association in South Australia.

‘The status of the AMA means that the President is the person, representing the AMA, that government and media turn to for advice, direction and comments about virtually any matter relating to medicine or health care.’

Dr Atchison said the AMA(SA) President must move from knowing ‘a little about everything’ in their specialty to ‘knowing a little bit about all of medicine’.

‘Of course, the timing of my presidency was just impeccable,’ Dr Atchison said. ‘With COVID, ramping, and the GP crisis, everyone turned to us for help, guidance, information, and answers.

‘Some sectors of the media, the public and even our own profession, questioned the very foundations of medicine and scientific evidence – and while internally wanting to scream, I learned to keep my psychiatrist’s face on, repeat our message, and hope it would cut through.’

The satisfaction, she said, came from knowing that many people did listen, and the AMA’s work consequently led to positive changes for doctors and patients.

Earlier, CEO Dr Samantha Mead said she would leave her role as CEO to confront many of the same issues but from a different perspective, at the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation

During her speech, Dr Mead thanked Gala Ball platinum sponsor, MIGA, bronze sponsors, Genesis Care and ACHA, and wine sponsor, Auld Family Wines, for their support of the event, and acknowledged the importance of the relationship with ongoing partners Hood Sweeney and Norman Waterhouse Lawyers.

Dr Mead also highlighted the work of the DREAMIN Foundation, a South Australian not-for-profit organisation with close links to AMA(SA). She said DREAMIN provides health care to neighbours near and far, including at Maranatha Health in Uganda and the ‘HEARS’ Project in the Pacific Islands, and, closer to home, offering medical student and junior doctor scholarships.

The recipient of the 2023 Outstanding Achievement Award is a man universally loved, respected and admired for a career in which he has devoted himself to the treatment and care of children since beginning his paediatric training at the then-Adelaide’s Children’s Hospital in 1962.

After furthering his training in internal medicine and paediatric haematology and oncology in Australia, the UK and United States, he established a specialty service for children with cancer at the Children’s Hospital, where a unit is now named for him.

He has been awarded the Howard Williams Medial from the Australian College of Paediatrics, the Medal of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians, the Centenary Medal and is a Member of the Order of Australia.

Throughout much of his career, he also served his country as a doctor with the Australian Army, including a tour to Vietnam as the doctor on the HMAS Sydney.

A Past President of AMA(SA) and former member of Federal Council, he was awarded the AMA Gold Medal in 2004. He was President of the Medical Benevolent Fund for 18 years and a much-valued member of the AMA(SA) Editorial Committee until December last year. He is an extraordinary, lovely man who embodies the characteristics that have made doctors the most trusted professionals in this country for decades.

The AMA(SA) President’s Award goes to a person who has possibly contributed more than anyone outside AMA(SA) Council to ensure the future of the AMA in this state.

In his professional roles, he was a staff radiologist or visiting specialist in at every major public hospital in Adelaide and several in regional South Australia, going on to combine his public hospital sessions with private practice.

With his medical knowledge and networks combined with his background as the chair and managing partner of a large health company, he provided exemplary service and calm, collected advice to the Executive Board, the CEO and the President after joining the Board table in 2018.

As Chair, he led the AMA through some of the most difficult years of our existence –years that included internal disruption, a once-in-a-century pandemic, the sale of physical assets and changes of operational leadership and staff.

His influence encouraged discussion and involvement and his clear vision have been admirable. We have appreciated his warm, consultative and inclusive approach; his integrity and honesty; and his balanced, ethical and trustworthy leadership.

Due to his retirement from practice, we reluctantly accepted his resignation from the Board earlier this year. His shoes, and seat, will be incredibly difficult to fill.

This year’s recipient of the AMA(SA) Medical Educator Award for outstanding contributions to medical education has been involved in medical education for a quarter of a century.

For many years she almost single-handedly ran the Adelaide Medical School’s rheumatology teaching program and she is a clinical lead in developing components of the new Bachelor MD course.

With research interests in rheumatoid arthritis and reducing the burden of disease associated with scleroderma and its complications, she has supervised students, is primary supervisor of the advanced trainees in rheumatology at the RAH, and is a Senior National Examining Panel member for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians.

Known for bringing passion for learning and for medicine to her teaching and for fostering a safe environment for students to ask questions and learn, she is a dedicated and inspiring role model for women aspiring to leadership positions in the academic and clinical sphere.

She is generous and always willing to help and intervene on behalf of the Adelaide Medical School, providing a critical conduit for the school to an invaluable resource of clinicians.

This award goes to a man whose experience in medicine includes periods in public hospitals, local and rural health, and medical research.

His work in the science of rural community-based medical education, and its impact on addressing the shortage of doctors in rural and remote areas, is revolutionising medical education and rural medical workforce policy nationally and internationally.

He is a former Dean of the School of Medicine at Flinders University, where he established rural clinical schools and departments of rural health in South Australia and the Northern Territory … … and developed a medical program with a focus on recruiting and supporting Indigenous students and staff, recognised around the world.

He was the person to whom the Australian Government turned when they created the position of National Rural Health Commissioner.

He is a past President of the Rural Doctors Association of SA, a previous national Vice President of the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine, and an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Health and Medical Sciences.

He is committed to working with partners in academia, government and the medical profession to solve the medical workforce deficit and create an end-to-end medical school program, junior doctor training and registrar training and provide a dynamic, sustainable rural generalist workforce for our future.