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03 Jun 2024
The Medical Board of Australia (the Board) is consulting on regulatory changes to unlock reforms designed to get more internationally qualified medical specialists practising safely in Australia.
The Board has launched a consultation on the draft revised registration standard – specialist registration for feedback. Consultation timelines are compressed (closing 3 July 2024) to meet reform deadlines set by Australia’s health ministers.
The registration standard is the regulatory tool that paves the way for reforms, including a fast-track pathway to specialist registration that aims to get more internationally qualified medical specialists seeing patients in Australia more quickly.
The fast-track pathway uses an existing provision in the National Law and will sit alongside the existing specialist medical college assessment system, which will remain in place for SIMGs who are not eligible for the expedited pathway.
The expedited pathway will recognise specific overseas specialist medical qualifications and grant upfront specialist registration to eligible doctors. Initial conditions on their registration will be imposed as a safeguard to protect patients while the new recruits are inducted into Australia’s healthcare system.
GPs, anaesthetists, obstetricians and gynaecologists, and psychiatrists are the priority specialties, with the fast-track pathway targeted to start for GPs in October 2024, and December 2024 for other priority medical specialties.
Proposed changes to the registration standard aim to make the pathways to specialist registration clearer, establish the expedited pathway, remove outdated regulatory barriers and improve workforce flexibility, while maintaining standards.
Setting up the fast-track pathway is a key plank in work by the Board and Ahpra to implement relevant recommendations flowing from the Overseas Health Practitioner Regulatory Settings Review - Final Report, 2023 by Ms Robyn Kruk AO (the Kruk Review).
Ahpra and the Board have set up a taskforce to develop the new expedited pathway and the Board is consulting with the specialist colleges for the priority medical specialities to finalise the list of qualifications that will be the gateway to fast-track registration.
The Board’s SIMG Taskforce lead, Dr Susan O’Dwyer, encouraged all agencies and individuals involved recruiting and employing SIMGs to take part in the consultation. “Australia has a complicated health system with shared responsibilities and accountabilities across agencies. We also share many common goals – most importantly, to enable safe medical care for Australians who need it, when they need it,” Dr O’Dwyer said.