Key points
- In 2001, AHMAC established a working party to research issues relevant to medical specialist training outside teaching hospitals. The working party commissioned Professor Peter Phelan to prepare a discussion paper on 'Medical specialist education and training: responding to the impact of changes in Australia’s health care system'.
- The Phelan report was released in February 2002 and identified some of the challenges relating to the scope of clinical training available at the time - including limited experience in ambulatory settings and limited trainee access to the variety of conditions that are managed primarily in the private sector.
- In October 2003, AHMAC established the Medical Specialist Training Taskforce to investigate the provision of training to doctors beyond existing environments and develop a potential training model to enable this to occur.
- The Medical Specialist Training Steering Committee was set up in November 2004 to investigate issues relating to the implementation of the taskforce’s findings.
- The Council of Australian Governments announced in July 2006, during the course of this project, a package of health workforce reforms that impact directly on the work of the steering committee.