An external consultant was engaged to support Reference Group 2 in examining the future supply of specialist trainees and the impact an expansion of specialist training settings would have on the service delivery capacity of metropolitan public teaching hospitals.
Wide consultation with a broad range of stakeholders was undertaken to obtain information on how the expanded training arrangements could be expected to impact on health care delivery within the public system.
These consultations occurred in every state and territory and included representatives from jurisdictional health departments, hospital administrators, clinicians, and specialist trainees in a range of settings such as public hospitals, private hospitals and regional areas.
The consultations were undertaken before the COAG announcement supporting the creation of an additional 605 Commonwealth funded medical school places. Stakeholders consulted would therefore not have included these additional graduates in their assessments of the impact an expansion of training settings may have on public hospital service delivery capacity.
For full details of the work of Reference Group 2, please see Appendix F.