After much restructuring, the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges has unveiled a new structure aimed at unifying medical specialties for common goals.
Australia’s specialist medical colleges will look to speak with one unified voice, as peak body Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges (CPMC) moves to restructure.
This voice looks to speak on where healthcare policies need major reform to accelerate the response to workforce shortages and accessibility.
The CPMC has stated that this transformation is critical due to said ongoing pressures requiring greater coordination in their responses.
“We recognised that our previous governance wasn’t agile enough to address Australia’s escalating healthcare challenges—from specialist shortages to rural patients waiting 12 months for care,” CPMC chair Dr Sanjay Jeganathan told The Medical Republic.
“The new dual model, with a Representative College Council preserving our 16 specialist colleges’ voices and a separate Board for strategic decisions, creates the unified peak body we need.”
A responsive and accessible structure is what has been promised by the CPMC as part of its revised structure.
These changes are set to enable clearer communication with the government and health bodies as part of strategic focussing on the council’s advocacy role.
Approved at a Special General Meeting on 17 July, the changes reflect CPMC’s commitment to both members and stakeholders.
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The newly minted structure with the Representative College Council is promised to maintain the political voice of the colleges, with the separate board focussed on internal strategy.
With workforce issues being a commonality across many specialties, the CPMC said the restructure would partially address these issues.
“Our previous governance structure wasn’t equipped to be able to respond to this crisis with the speed and coordination that’s really required,” CPMC CEO Jodie Long told TMR.
“The need for the colleges to work together to help address these shortages, that was really the impetus for us to change the way that we’re structured.
“We can be more responsive and agile and ensure that we have a single voice of those important conversations across the country.”
A proportionate emphasis on the issues with rural workforce shortages and staff maldistribution was stated by the CPMC as an initiative that would continue under the new regulatory structure.
“The colleges have all committed to working to implement in how they select trainees for training programmes in rural places,” Ms Long told TMR.
“[Considerations like] giving a weighting to if the candidates were grown up or have lived in rural areas, and if they have undertaken over 12 months of their training already in a rural area.”
