Implementation of Ministerial Policy Direction 2023-01 and the recommendations of the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman’s report

The Australian Medical Council is an organisation whose work impacts across the lands of Australia and New Zealand.

The Australian Medical Council acknowledges the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the original Australians and the Māori People as the tangata whenua (Indigenous) Peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand). We recognise them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands.

We pay our respects to them and to their Elders, both past, present and emerging, and we recognise their enduring connection to the lands we live and work on, and honour their ongoing connection to those lands, its waters and sky.

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Background
Project management and reporting
NHPO recommendations and deliverables

News: Currently consulting on draft model standards and draft model procedures. See the Consultation page here

Background

In 2022 and 2023, the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (NHPO) undertook a review of specialist medical college policies, procedures, and practices for accreditation of specialist training sites and published: Processes for progress – Part one: A roadmap for greater transparency and accountability in specialist medical training site accreditation, October 2023. Australian Health Ministers agreed with the 23 recommendations in this report, and also directed the Medical Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) to require the AMC to work with colleges and jurisdictions on the implementation of the recommendations: Ministerial Policy Direction 2023-01: Medical College Accreditation of Training Sites.

Colleges, jurisdictional health departments and the AMC have been working collaboratively to progress this work, including implementation of the agreed Communication Protocol approved by Ministers in 2023.

Making progress on the NHPO recommendations is a Ministerial priority and therefore, work will occur on a fast track ahead of the AMC’s review of the Standards for Assessment and Accreditation of Specialist Medical Programs. There will be close interaction between the two projects, particularly regarding AMC standard 8.2 which relates to the accreditation of training sites by specialist medical colleges.

Project management and reporting

The implementation of the NHPO recommendations is being managed as an operational improvement project and the AMC has engaged the Miller Blue Group consultancy to support the AMC and colleges in the work, so progress can be made in a timely way. The AMC liaises with jurisdictional health departments through the Health Workforce Taskforce (HWT), as well as with the Medical Board of Australia, and Ahpra to report progress.

The AMC has established a governance structure to oversee the project:

The Project Governance Group supports the implementation of the NHPO report recommendations and is the overarching governance body that is accountable to the HWT for the project.
The College Working Group works with the project team to provide subject matter expertise on college policies and procedures.
The AMC Project Implementation Team (the AMC project team) reports regularly to the HWT secretariat and to the Medical Board of Australia and Ahpra on progress.

NHPO recommendations and deliverables

The NHPO report contains 22 recommendations for implementation by colleges (and one recommendation in relation to implementation). In addition, the NHPO made specific recommendations to each college in the report appendices. Many of these college-specific recommendations are common across colleges and also appear in the main report.

Some recommendations have been identified as matters for individual colleges to implement in accordance with their own processes. The scope of the Joint AMC/College project is restricted to those 15 recommendations that go towards meeting the Ministerial Policy Direction 2023-01 and can be implemented consistently by colleges.

Work streams

The 15 NHPO recommendations which are the focus of this project have been categorised into the following four broad work streams:

1. Development of a set of model accreditation standards

Address consistency in the matters to be dealt with in college standards for the accreditation of training settings

Ensure accreditation standards are relevant to training program outcomes

2. Development of best practice accreditation policies and procedures

Develop resource documents for use by colleges to address the issues in their accreditation processes as identified by the NHPO in the individual college reports, and to improve consistency across colleges in processes and terminology. Resources will include:

guidance on procedural fairness/due process

a risk matrix for accreditation decisions, including when accreditation may be revoked

a model accreditation report that addresses relevancy, provides for reasons for decisions and outlines appeals processes

guidance on complaints management.

3. Development of an agreed framework between colleges and jurisdictions for managing concerns and complaints about a training setting

Develop a framework document agreed by colleges and jurisdictions that will inform each party’s approach to dealing with concerns and complaints regarding accredited training settings.

4. Development of a data collection model and reporting process

Develop a data set for the future that is meaningful and provides an evidence base for improvements.

Identify data for publication that is meaningful to the public and enhances transparency.

A summary of the recommendations by workstream

Deliverables

The following deliverables have been approved/endorsed by the Health Workforce Taskforce.

Procedure for developing model standards

Procedure for developing model standards for specialist medical college accreditation of training settings

Recommendation 1
Targeted consultation: 16 May – 13 June 2024
Approved/Endorsed: 5 September 2024

Accreditation reports – Guidance for specialist medical colleges

Guidance for specialist medical colleges on the purpose and format of training setting accreditation reports and example accreditation report template

Recommendation 4
Targeted consultation: 16 May to 13 June 2024
Approved/Endorsed: 5 September 2024

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The Australian Medical Council is an organisation whose work impacts across the lands of Australia and New Zealand. The Australian Medical Council acknowledges the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the original Australians and the Māori People as the tangata whenua (Indigenous) Peoples of Aotearoa (New Zealand). We recognise them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. We pay our respects to them and to their Elders, both past, present and emerging, and we recognise their enduring connection to these lands on which we live and work every day, and honour their ongoing connection to those lands, its waters and sky.