Tougher laws on psychoactive substances welcomed

The Australian Medical Association (WA) has welcomed the State Government’s announcement of tougher laws on the sale, manufacturing and supply of psychoactive substances.

“The State Government, and the Mental Health Minister the Hon. Helen Morton, should be congratulated for finally closing the loopholes that synthetic drug manufacturers have been able to exploit,” AMA (WA) Vice President Dr Andrew Miller said.

“For too long law enforcement has been playing catch-up on these substances, banning one chemical derivative while 10 more hit the market.

“Most of the chemicals are completely untested on the human body and pose severe health risks ranging from psychosis to death.

“Now the burden of proof lies on suppliers of ‘bath salts’ and ‘potpourri’ to prove these products are legal and not psychoactive stimulants.

“WA was the first State to ban synthetic cannabis in Australia largely thanks to organisations like the AMA (WA) who led the charge. This new piece of legislation will go a long way in keeping these products off our streets,” Dr Miller said.

Payroll enquiries by doctors

Several months ago, the AMA (WA) raised with then Acting Director General, Professor Bryant Stokes the manifold difficulties members were facing in having pay errors rectified. The DG was concerned that this same issue continued to be raised with him by the AMA and took swift action directing the Acting Executive Director, Health Support Services (in charge of HCN) to meet with the AMA to sort out the problems.

The result was that the AMA has now met with the Acting Executive Director twice and, while it is early days for too much optimism, improvements seem to have been made and some issues are starting to be resolved. It has also been beneficial to discover the processes used by HCN to rectify issues, the lines of responsibility at different levels and their communication channels with the DOH.

For members who aren’t aware, if you have a payroll query it is important to raise the issue with medical administration in the first instance. Medical administration has responsibility to raise the matter with HCN if needed. Checking with medical administration first will also allow you to verify whether the correct information has been passed to HCN for processing in the first instance, as HCN will only be able to act on the relevant documentation submitted.

Meanwhile, members should continue to raise issues with the AMA’s industrial team by contacting Marcia Kuhne, Simon Bibby, Josephine Auerbach or Leah Pantelis.

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Youth Friendly Doctor Workshops

The Youth Friendly Doctor (YFD) Program seeks to build the capacity of General Practitioners to communicate more effectively with young people, address the barriers they face in accessing healthcare and promote adolescent friendly policies, facilities and service delivery.

This program is accredited with the RACGP and attracts Category 1 and or Category 2 QI&CPD points.

There are still spaces available in the remaining Youth Friendly Doctor workshops for the 2015 program:

• 3rd November: Mental Health Disorders: Diagnosis and Assessment
•17th November: Mental Health Disorders: The Psychosocial Wellbeing of Young People 

Each workshop has an online classroom and therefore rural participants are encouraged to apply.

FREE for AMA (WA) members. $50 per workshop for non members.
 

If you would like more information about the program please contact the AMA (WA) via email or phone (9273 3000).
 

NPS MedicineWise: managing iron deficiency

The latest news from NPS MedicineWise provides information for GPs on identifying and correcting iron deficiency before surgery to help patients avoid a blood transfusion.

Patients with anaemia are significantly more likely to receive a blood transfusion compared with patients who were not anaemic prior to surgery. Blood transfusion is itself associated with morbidity and mortality in the postoperative period. In addition to risk of transfusion, it has been demonstrated that anaemia is associated with increased morbidity and mortality following orthopaedic surgery as well as impacts on postoperative recovery and quality of life.

NPS MedicineWise and the National Blood Authority have collaborated to develop a suite of resources to help GPs manage patients who are on a surgical waiting list and may require treatment for iron deficiency and anaemia.

For more information, please click here. 

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