❓ The Minister for Health details a $75 million investment over four years to improve the training of junior doctors, addressing concerns about the quality of training due to increased numbers. The funding will support additional educators, simulators, and rural training opportunities.
AnsweredQoN 327Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
HEALTH SYSTEM — INVESTMENT IN JUNIOR DOCTORS
Last weekend the Minister for Health announced that the budget contained a significant investment in Western Australia’s junior doctors. Could the minister expand on this and what it will mean to our new health system? Dr K.D. HAMES
Last weekend the Minister for Health announced that the budget contained a significant investment in Western Australia’s junior doctors. Could the minister expand on this and what it will mean to our new health system? Dr K.D. HAMES
AnswerView source ↗
Lots of additional components in the health portfolio were announced during the recent budget presentation, part of which was the $565 million inland health package obtained through royalties for regions funding. That is a fantastic package to improve health. That announcement somewhat overshadowed the announcement over the weekend for training junior doctors. We have gone from my day, when I graduated all the way back in 1976, when there were 90 doctors coming through, to just recently, when 295 doctors came through the system; and we will be moving to 310 over the next few years. That is a huge increase in the number of doctors coming through. All the costs associated with training those doctors have been absorbed into the system by previous governments and by this government just recently. The Department of Health has had to absorb the cost of training those additional doctors. Sadly, that has meant that the quality of training for those doctors coming through has been much more difficult to deliver. For example, whereas in the past specialists doing a ward round might have had two or three junior doctors with them learning the trade as they go around the ward, nowadays the specialists have a much greater number of junior doctors with them. It means that individually each doctor is not getting the training they need. The government has announced $75 million of additional funding over four years to help train those doctors. It is not about funding for the doctors themselves, but funding for the people who are training the doctors. There will be an additional 94 doctors, often they are specialists who are perhaps doing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 of a week, and they will have their hours increased so we will have more doctors taking the rounds; that is, 94 additional doctors and 44 additional educators. Those people are often university educators who are training those doctors in some aspects of their profession, and part of that will be through simulators, so there will be a significant purchase of simulators to allow that additional training of doctors. What is even better is that part of that $595 million package will increase the number of doctors working in rural areas—about 40 per cent of the $75 million will be spent in the country. That will allow us to pay the doctors in country areas to give more training to our junior doctors in country medicine. When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: Lots of additional components in the health portfolio were announced during the recent budget presentation, part of which was the $565 million inland health package obtained through royalties for regions funding. That is a fantastic package to improve health. That announcement somewhat overshadowed the announcement over the weekend for training junior doctors. We have gone from my day, when I graduated all the way back in 1976, when there were 90 doctors coming through, to just recently, when 295 doctors came through the system; and we will be moving to 310 over the next few years. That is a huge increase in the number of doctors coming through. All the costs associated with training those doctors have been absorbed into the system by previous governments and by this government just recently. The Department of Health has had to absorb the cost of training those additional doctors. Sadly, that has meant that the quality of training for those doctors coming through has been much more difficult to deliver. For example, whereas in the past specialists doing a ward round might have had two or three junior doctors with them learning the trade as they go around the ward, nowadays the specialists have a much greater number of junior doctors with them. It means that individually each doctor is not getting the training they need. The government has announced $75 million of additional funding over four years to help train those doctors. It is not about funding for the doctors themselves, but funding for the people who are training the doctors. There will be an additional 94 doctors, often they are specialists who are perhaps doing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 of a week, and they will have their hours increased so we will have more doctors taking the rounds; that is, 94 additional doctors and 44 additional educators. Those people are often university educators who are training those doctors in some aspects of their profession, and part of that will be through simulators, so there will be a significant purchase of simulators to allow that additional training of doctors. What is even better is that part of that $595 million package will increase the number of doctors working in rural areas—about 40 per cent of the $75 million will be spent in the country. That will allow us to pay the doctors in country areas to give more training to our junior doctors in country medicine. When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
Lots of additional components in the health portfolio were announced during the recent budget presentation, part of which was the $565 million inland health package obtained through royalties for regions funding. That is a fantastic package to improve health. That announcement somewhat overshadowed the announcement over the weekend for training junior doctors. We have gone from my day, when I graduated all the way back in 1976, when there were 90 doctors coming through, to just recently, when 295 doctors came through the system; and we will be moving to 310 over the next few years. That is a huge increase in the number of doctors coming through. All the costs associated with training those doctors have been absorbed into the system by previous governments and by this government just recently. The Department of Health has had to absorb the cost of training those additional doctors. Sadly, that has meant that the quality of training for those doctors coming through has been much more difficult to deliver. For example, whereas in the past specialists doing a ward round might have had two or three junior doctors with them learning the trade as they go around the ward, nowadays the specialists have a much greater number of junior doctors with them. It means that individually each doctor is not getting the training they need. The government has announced $75 million of additional funding over four years to help train those doctors. It is not about funding for the doctors themselves, but funding for the people who are training the doctors. There will be an additional 94 doctors, often they are specialists who are perhaps doing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 of a week, and they will have their hours increased so we will have more doctors taking the rounds; that is, 94 additional doctors and 44 additional educators. Those people are often university educators who are training those doctors in some aspects of their profession, and part of that will be through simulators, so there will be a significant purchase of simulators to allow that additional training of doctors. What is even better is that part of that $595 million package will increase the number of doctors working in rural areas—about 40 per cent of the $75 million will be spent in the country. That will allow us to pay the doctors in country areas to give more training to our junior doctors in country medicine. When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
We have gone from my day, when I graduated all the way back in 1976, when there were 90 doctors coming through, to just recently, when 295 doctors came through the system; and we will be moving to 310 over the next few years. That is a huge increase in the number of doctors coming through. All the costs associated with training those doctors have been absorbed into the system by previous governments and by this government just recently. The Department of Health has had to absorb the cost of training those additional doctors. Sadly, that has meant that the quality of training for those doctors coming through has been much more difficult to deliver. For example, whereas in the past specialists doing a ward round might have had two or three junior doctors with them learning the trade as they go around the ward, nowadays the specialists have a much greater number of junior doctors with them. It means that individually each doctor is not getting the training they need. The government has announced $75 million of additional funding over four years to help train those doctors. It is not about funding for the doctors themselves, but funding for the people who are training the doctors. There will be an additional 94 doctors, often they are specialists who are perhaps doing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 of a week, and they will have their hours increased so we will have more doctors taking the rounds; that is, 94 additional doctors and 44 additional educators. Those people are often university educators who are training those doctors in some aspects of their profession, and part of that will be through simulators, so there will be a significant purchase of simulators to allow that additional training of doctors. What is even better is that part of that $595 million package will increase the number of doctors working in rural areas—about 40 per cent of the $75 million will be spent in the country. That will allow us to pay the doctors in country areas to give more training to our junior doctors in country medicine. When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
Dr K.D. HAMES replied: Lots of additional components in the health portfolio were announced during the recent budget presentation, part of which was the $565 million inland health package obtained through royalties for regions funding. That is a fantastic package to improve health. That announcement somewhat overshadowed the announcement over the weekend for training junior doctors. We have gone from my day, when I graduated all the way back in 1976, when there were 90 doctors coming through, to just recently, when 295 doctors came through the system; and we will be moving to 310 over the next few years. That is a huge increase in the number of doctors coming through. All the costs associated with training those doctors have been absorbed into the system by previous governments and by this government just recently. The Department of Health has had to absorb the cost of training those additional doctors. Sadly, that has meant that the quality of training for those doctors coming through has been much more difficult to deliver. For example, whereas in the past specialists doing a ward round might have had two or three junior doctors with them learning the trade as they go around the ward, nowadays the specialists have a much greater number of junior doctors with them. It means that individually each doctor is not getting the training they need. The government has announced $75 million of additional funding over four years to help train those doctors. It is not about funding for the doctors themselves, but funding for the people who are training the doctors. There will be an additional 94 doctors, often they are specialists who are perhaps doing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 of a week, and they will have their hours increased so we will have more doctors taking the rounds; that is, 94 additional doctors and 44 additional educators. Those people are often university educators who are training those doctors in some aspects of their profession, and part of that will be through simulators, so there will be a significant purchase of simulators to allow that additional training of doctors. What is even better is that part of that $595 million package will increase the number of doctors working in rural areas—about 40 per cent of the $75 million will be spent in the country. That will allow us to pay the doctors in country areas to give more training to our junior doctors in country medicine. When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
Lots of additional components in the health portfolio were announced during the recent budget presentation, part of which was the $565 million inland health package obtained through royalties for regions funding. That is a fantastic package to improve health. That announcement somewhat overshadowed the announcement over the weekend for training junior doctors. We have gone from my day, when I graduated all the way back in 1976, when there were 90 doctors coming through, to just recently, when 295 doctors came through the system; and we will be moving to 310 over the next few years. That is a huge increase in the number of doctors coming through. All the costs associated with training those doctors have been absorbed into the system by previous governments and by this government just recently. The Department of Health has had to absorb the cost of training those additional doctors. Sadly, that has meant that the quality of training for those doctors coming through has been much more difficult to deliver. For example, whereas in the past specialists doing a ward round might have had two or three junior doctors with them learning the trade as they go around the ward, nowadays the specialists have a much greater number of junior doctors with them. It means that individually each doctor is not getting the training they need. The government has announced $75 million of additional funding over four years to help train those doctors. It is not about funding for the doctors themselves, but funding for the people who are training the doctors. There will be an additional 94 doctors, often they are specialists who are perhaps doing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 of a week, and they will have their hours increased so we will have more doctors taking the rounds; that is, 94 additional doctors and 44 additional educators. Those people are often university educators who are training those doctors in some aspects of their profession, and part of that will be through simulators, so there will be a significant purchase of simulators to allow that additional training of doctors. What is even better is that part of that $595 million package will increase the number of doctors working in rural areas—about 40 per cent of the $75 million will be spent in the country. That will allow us to pay the doctors in country areas to give more training to our junior doctors in country medicine. When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
We have gone from my day, when I graduated all the way back in 1976, when there were 90 doctors coming through, to just recently, when 295 doctors came through the system; and we will be moving to 310 over the next few years. That is a huge increase in the number of doctors coming through. All the costs associated with training those doctors have been absorbed into the system by previous governments and by this government just recently. The Department of Health has had to absorb the cost of training those additional doctors. Sadly, that has meant that the quality of training for those doctors coming through has been much more difficult to deliver. For example, whereas in the past specialists doing a ward round might have had two or three junior doctors with them learning the trade as they go around the ward, nowadays the specialists have a much greater number of junior doctors with them. It means that individually each doctor is not getting the training they need. The government has announced $75 million of additional funding over four years to help train those doctors. It is not about funding for the doctors themselves, but funding for the people who are training the doctors. There will be an additional 94 doctors, often they are specialists who are perhaps doing 0.2, 0.4 or 0.6 of a week, and they will have their hours increased so we will have more doctors taking the rounds; that is, 94 additional doctors and 44 additional educators. Those people are often university educators who are training those doctors in some aspects of their profession, and part of that will be through simulators, so there will be a significant purchase of simulators to allow that additional training of doctors. What is even better is that part of that $595 million package will increase the number of doctors working in rural areas—about 40 per cent of the $75 million will be spent in the country. That will allow us to pay the doctors in country areas to give more training to our junior doctors in country medicine. When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
When the leader of the National Party and I were in Northam, there was a great example of a doctor who was talking to us who was getting close to retirement. He said that young doctors did not have the skills that we have or that we used to have, and that he would be perfectly happy to spend his time in semiretirement training our doctors in some of the more difficult but commonly used technical procedures that they have to do when they become country doctors. It is a fantastic initiative. I give my thanks to the Premier and the Treasurer who helped support, particularly, that funding going through, because it is critical to the quality of doctors coming through our system.
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