Advocacy update

RACS has a strong history of advocacy across Australia and New Zealand. We are committed to effecting positive change in health care and the broader community by adopting informed and principled positions on issues of public health. We regularly advocate for these positions across several different mediums, including through the media, public campaigns, or by negotiating directly or providing written submissions to both Government and non-Government agencies. Some of the advocacy work the College has undertaken in the last quarter of the year includes: Consultation on draft report from Rural Surgery Section Aotearoa New Zealand Regional and Rural Health Equity Workshop On Saturday 4 September, Dr Nicola Hill, RACS Councillor, with the Rural Surgery Section Committee, convened an online workshop to discuss Aotearoa New Zealand facing rural health equity strategies. The main topics captured included:

• leveraging the relationship with the

Ministry of Health to influence the implementation of massive changes to occur in the health system post-District

Health Board dismantling • highlighting the importance of Māori health and adopt principles outlined in the RACS Māori Health Action Plan

• gaining consensus on an agreed definition for regional and rural in

Aotearoa New Zealand

• improving SIMG relations with RACS and surgical colleagues • establishing an annual forum dedicated to regional and rural Aotearoa New

Zealand matters in collaboration with other medical colleges • exploring the concept of Hub and Node training networks. A draft report summarising the key concepts, themes and recommendations arising from the workshop has been prepared and is currently under consultation.

Health Policy and Advocacy Committee update In the four months since RACS’ Health Policy and Advocacy Committee's (HPAC) inception, it has been involved in nearly 40 projects—big and small—throughout the College. These range from quick and fast advice to major submission writing. There have also been around 20 external stakeholder meetings. The last HPAC meeting was held on 27 September 2021. Besides HPAC, others who attended were the Executive General Manager of Fellowship Engagement Division, the Policy and Advocacy Team, and the RACS CEO. Invited guests included the President, Executive Director for Surgical Affairs, Manager of State and Territory Engagement, and Research Audit and Academic Surgery General Manager. Dr John Crozier is now the Professional Standard Committee (PSC) and Trauma Committee Representative on HPAC, with Deputy Chair Professor David Fletcher the HPAC representative on the PSC. AEHA Priority Plan released In 2017, RACS became a proud signatory to the Australian Consensus Framework for Ethical Collaboration (ACF) in the healthcare sector, now known as the Australian Ethical Health Alliance (AEHA). It is a collaboration of professional bodies, industry organisations, hospitals and health service associations, regulators, and patient and advocacy groups who have come together to tackle ethical issues within the health sector. The group is government-supported but sector-led voluntary initiative, which started with five signatories (RACS included) and has subsequently grown to more than 70.

Since February 2021, the AEHA Steering Committee has been developing a strategic direction for the Alliance. RACS recently reviewed the draft Strategic Plan and provided a submission, which is available on the RACS website. In early October, the AEHA launched the AEHA Priority Plan 2022-2024. The plan determines the organisation's strategic objectives and includes three key areas of focus:

• advocacy and awareness • embedding ethics • organisation sustainability. RANZCR range of Practice Position paper The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Radiologists (RANZCR) shared an initial version of a Specialist Interventional Radiology and Interventional Neuroradiology Range of Practice position paper for comment. In our response, RACS raised a number of concerns in relation to the mention of ‘ward-based care’ and ‘outpatient management’, as well as ‘noninterventional management of congenital and acquired diseases’, in relation to the range of practice for these subspecialties. RACS noted that, ‘Interventional radiologists are not involved in the primary clinical assessment and primary decision-making regarding patients’ care, as they are not trained in the biology, natural history and therapeutic options for all conditions.’ RACS also stated that, ‘Interventional radiologists should always work as part of a multidisciplinary team (MDT), and provide a service based on MDT plans.' Want to know more about RACS advocacy? Every four to six weeks RACS distributes an Advocacy in Brief newsletter, which includes detailed updates on recent RACS submissions from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, active consultations and engagement opportunities, as well as various other items of interest. If you would like to be added to the distribution list for future issues, please email the RACS Policy and Advocacy team at RACS.Advocacy@surgeons.org