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Home > Ministers > The Hon Nicola Roxon MP - Minister for Health and Ageing > Media Hub > Expanded Role for Medical Training Panel Will Improve Support for Australia’s Health Workforce

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PDF printable version of Expanded Role for Medical Training Panel Will Improve Support for Australia’s Health Workforce (PDF 22 KB)

16 February 2010

The functions of the Medical Training Review Panel (MTRP) will be expanded following a review of its role in supporting the development of Australia’s health workforce.

The independent review found that the MTRP is providing valuable support to Australia’s medical education and training, and that its current work should continue while also expanding some of its data collection and interpretation functions. This will provide a better picture on the current medical workforce as well as the information required to meet the needs of the workforce into the future.

Recommendations of the review include:

• expanding the membership of the panel to include a representative from the private hospital sector and from the Indigenous medical workforce,
• increasing the frequency of meetings,
• streamlining the appointment process for members, and
• greater consultation with various bodies and groups including medical trainees, the rural sector and international medical graduates.

Since 1997, the MTRP has been a major provider of information on medical education and training which has led to significant improvements in the sector, particularly in training junior doctors and specialist trainees.

The current membership of the panel includes representatives from all state and territory health administrations, recognised specialist medical colleges, medical schools, medical students and specialist trainees, the Australian Medical Association, and a range of other professional, industrial and stakeholder bodies.

MTRP will work closely with the newly established Health Workforce Australia.

I look forward to the MTRP’s ongoing assistance to meet the challenges Australia faces to ensure we continue to have a highly skilled health workforce in place to deliver quality health care.

MTRP reports can be found at www.health.gov.au/mtrp.

For all media inquiries, please contact the Minister's Office on 02 6277 7220.