Volume 197 - Issue 9
The medical workforce in 2025: what’s in the numbers?
Authors: Michael A Bonning, William J Milford and Rob D Mitchell
Med J Aust 2012; 197 (9): 490. || doi: 10.5694/mja12.11182
Published online: 5 November 2012
Published online: 5 November 2012
Joyce contends in her recent article that “medical workforce supply levels follow a predictable, if lengthy, cycle between phases of shortage and surplus”. If this is the case, the scramble by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council to find internships for graduating medical students represents a stunning lapse in workforce planning.
Marked growth in student numbers has occurred since the early 2000s, ...
To the Editor: Joyce contends in her recent article that “medical workforce supply levels follow a predictable, if lengthy, cycle between phases of shortage and surplus”.1 If this is the case, the scramble by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) to find internships for graduating medical students2 represents a stunning lapse in workforce planning.
Marked growth in student numbers has occurred since the early 2000s, and the approximate size of the 2012 graduating cohort has been known since 2009.1,3 Despite the expansion of intern places in recent years,1 a significant shortfall is predicted for 2013.4,5 Commonwealth-supported-place students are guaranteed an internship after graduation, but domestic and international full-fee-paying students might miss out.
AHMAC is attempting to identify new intern placements.2,5 However, capacity issues exist along the workforce continuum,1 and the cannibalisation of senior prevocational and vocational positions to allow expansion of intern training will only shift the bottleneck. The shortfall of intern places is symptomatic of a much larger problem.
This situation reflects the lack of explicit national policy regarding the contribution of former international full-fee students to the medical labour force. It also disregards Australia’s strategic objective of a self-sufficient health workforce.
The Council of Australian Governments must take a leadership role and agree on a robust mechanism to better manage the entire training pipeline, linking input, throughput and output. The federal–state blame game needs to end.
These issues are complex, but the lack of coordination has real-world consequences; not just for the future careers of these medical students, but also for the health care of Australians.
Competing interests
No relevant disclosures.
References
- Joyce CM. The medical workforce in 2025: what’s in the numbers? MJA Open 2012; 1 Suppl 3: 6-9. CHDFECIE
- Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council. Communique. 18 June 2012. Perth: AHMAC, 2012. http://www.amsa.org.au/advocacy/internship-crisis/ (accessed Jul 2012).
- Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing. Medical Training Review Panel twelfth report. Canberra: DoHA, 2009. i1142887
- Australian Medical Students’ Association. National internship crisis updates [webpage]. 2012. http://www.amsa.org.au/internship-crisis (accessed Jul 2012).
- Newton K. Govt vows to expand intern places. Australian Doctor 2012; 24 Jul. i1142891