The Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges is the unifying organisation that supports Australia’s Medical Colleges which oversee and maintain professional standards for doctors training in their individual areas of specialty. CPMC’s vision for Australia’s health and ageing sectors is one which is fully integrated and adequately funded so that there is scope for growth or change to ensure seamless transitioning of patients throughout their care pathways. CPMC supports universal health care and equity in access for all Australians regardless of geographical isolation including initiatives which are aimed at ensuring quality and safety in the organisation and delivery of health services.

Australia’s medical specialists see the challenges being faced by Australians and the need for greater investment. They work in all areas and in every part of the country from the city to the bush, and have extensive knowledge of how the system functions because they have to navigate it each day to manage patient care. They have said to CPMC that more investment is necessary if needs are to be met. Therefore, CPMC calls on all parties to commit to system improvement by:

• Investing $1 billion back into the public hospital system.
• Focussing on investing in primary care and recapitalise general practice by investing the government spend to 10 per cent or $2 billion.
• Funding the rural generalist pathway to assist in delivering enhanced medical services to people in rural and regional Australia.
• Increasing government investment in chronic disease management including specialist training in these fields.
• Enabling access and equity for people with mental illness across all the care systems and fund the requirements.
• Embracing technology as a life-saving tool in modern health care and reducing barriers to quality pathology and radiology services.
• Focussing on accessible oral and dental health care within the Medicare system.

Contacts: Dr Philip Truskett AM, Chair, CPMC on chairCPMC@cpmc.edu.au

Ms Angela Magarry, CEO on ceo@cpmc.edu.au