In the lead up to the Australian Federal Budget in May 2023, Australian Health Journal reached out to peak health industry bodies to hear about their priorities, either noted in pre-budget submissions lodged with Federal Government in January 2023 or in recent forums such as the Strengthening Medicare Taskforce.
Others have stated their priorities directly with Federal Government. Through these interviews, AHJ gives a final opportunity to communicate to all health stakeholders, the funding needs for a range of priorities. These range from new models of care to pilots and wholesale, system improvements to building more sustainable workforces to help grow certain sectors of the health system
The President of the Australasian Association of Nuclear Medicine Specialists (AANMS), Associate Professor Sze Ting Lee spoke with Australian Health Journal about the following:
- Usual levels of nuclear medicine services in Australia each year
- Current levels of nuclear medicine services in Australia
- How changing demographics in people moving to regional areas has impacted access to nuclear medicine services
- The nuclear medicine workforce including trainees
- Key recommendation from the pre-budget submission
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Continuing education program leads to better conversations
Medicines Australia’s Continuing Education Program (CEP) is designed to educate medical representatives to a recognised industry standard. Dr Tristan Ling, CEP Academic Lead and Project Manager at the College of Health and Medicine, University of Tasmania talks about the 900 students that come through the program each year.
The CEP is primarily directed at medical representatives working within the prescription medicines industry, but is also recommended to people who may not be currently employed within the industry but would like to pursue a career as a medical representative. It is also available to personnel working for organisations interacting with the pharmaceutical industry.
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Global collaboration in pulmonary fibrosis research
Pulmonary fibrosis is a lung disease that occurs when lung tissue becomes damaged and scarred. The debilitating and fatal disease ended the life of an Australian man 8 years ago.
His son led philanthropic efforts to establish the connection between 2 Australian organisations; Lung Foundation Australia and Centre for Research Excellence in Pulmonary Fibrosis and the US based, Three Lakes Foundation. The three organisations recently announced a collaboration to create a global network for PF research.
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Expansion of specialist training in regional & rural areas
Associate Professor Sanjay Jeganathan, Chair of the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC) states, ”Our rural and regional communities deserve the same access to specialist care as our cities. We’re seeing real results from our colleges’ commitment to rural training.”
