The Australian Medical Association (WA), United Workers Union (UWU) and Health Services Union WA (HSUWA) have welcomed the passing of legislation in the Western Australian Parliament that will provide essential protections for healthcare workers should they contract COVID-19.

The Federal AMA has released a document that aims to assist doctors, medical practices and their staff to have COVIDSafe medical practices where the risk of transmission is minimised through sensible precautions and rapid responses to possible or confirmed cases. The AMA COVIDSafe Practice Guide builds on the existing Commonwealth Government guidance and resources, and is meant to be a practical guide for AMA members in an ever-changing environment (with advice current at the time of publication).

The AMA has written to Health Minister Greg Hunt, calling on the Federal Government to extend temporary telehealth arrangements under Medicare that have supported patients to have a consultation with their doctor either over the phone or by video.

Calling all doctors in training  - the AMA (WA) Hospital Health Check is back this year, launching in September. Last year, 36% of respondents admitted feeling unsafe returning to work the morning after being on call overnight. And 30% told us they'd experienced bullying in the workplace. Your feedback helps us hold hospitals to account. Time to call out these issues again this year. Keep an eye out for the survey landing in your inbox soon. In the meantime, you can view the 2019 results online.

Thank you to all the WA doctors who attended, voiced their concerns and shared their insights at the AMA (WA) Town Hall Meeting.

AMA (WA) President Dr Andrew Miller presented on the COVID-19 response and current situation as well as PPE concerns, with AMA (WA) CEO Dr Bennie Ng and Councillor Dr Megge Beacroft providing an update of the ongoing EBA negotiations.

Keep an eye out for the August edition of Medicus for more on the Town Hall Meeting. 

Indo-Asia Digital Health Centre for Innovation and Commercialisation is holding the Digital Health and Telemedicine workshop in collaboration with the University of Notre Dame Australia’s School of Medicine. This year new and exciting topics will be discussed including applications relevant to COVID-19.

Experts from around the globe will discuss successful telemedicine and digital health solutions, projects and successful business models.

World Health Organisation (WHO) Member States this week resolved to adopt a strategy for the global elimination of cervical cancer and implementation of national cervical cancer control plans.

The strategy, Accelerating the Elimination of Cervical Cancer as a Public Health Problem, is the cumulation of a process initiated in 2018 by WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. It is designed to advance women’s health, strengthen worldwide health systems and address inequities between and within countries, placing countries on the road to eliminating cervical cancer.

General practitioners, nurses, physiotherapists and other allied health professionals are invited to attend the third St John of God Subiaco Hospital webinar on Hot Topics in Orthopaedics.