Past key activities include, employment, poverty and health, end-of-life care, refugee health, and advocacy for change.

The RACP recognise the important role that doctors can play in tackling health inequities, as well as promoting the benefits of employment and good work as a key determinant of health and wellbeing.

Employment, poverty and health

We recognise the important role that doctors can play in tackling health inequities, as well as promoting the benefits of employment and good work as a key determinant of health and wellbeing. Doctors can help to influence a fundamental shift in our healthcare system from treatment to prevention, and improve the overall quality of life across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.

RACP's Employment, Poverty and Health: A Statement of Principles presents a principles-based guide for healthcare provision that focuses on actions that doctors can undertake to promote safe, healthy work and to have the greatest impact on social determinants of health.

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End of life

All physicians have a responsibility to provide good end-of-life care. Good end-of-life care enables patients nearing the end of their life to live as well as possible, and to die well, without unnecessary prolongation of the dying process. It is widely acknowledged that in many circumstances, end-of-life care does not always meet the needs of patients and their loved ones.

The RACP have established the End of Life Working Party in 2014 to identify and articulate ways for the RACP to advocate for improvements in end-of-life care.

A 2015 survey of RACP Membership investigated their knowledge, attitudes and practice in end-of-life care and advance care planning. The survey results guided policy and advocacy activities in this area, including promotion of resources and training on end-of life issues for Fellows and trainees.

Our position statement on good end-of-life care (PDF 1MB) and supporting fact sheet (PDF 1MB) was launched in 2016.

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Make it the Norm – Aotearoa New Zealand

Make it the Norm is a public advocacy campaign aimed at improving health equity in Aotearoa New Zealand. It calls for holistic action to improve factors that impact health, including housing, good work, whānau wellbeing, and health equity. Our vision for health equity in Aotearoa New Zealand is enduring. We want to see a more fair and just society for the year when Aotearoa commemorates the bicentennial of Te Tiriti o Waitangi in 2040. We are committed to making health the norm for all, now.

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Refugee and asylum seeker health

Current Australian immigration policies mandate the detention of refugees and asylum seekers who have arrived by boat in Australia without a visa. They are held in detention facilities on and offshore, where access to quality healthcare is intermittent.

The detention of asylum seekers has severe physical and mental health impacts. In addition, refugees and asylum seekers resettled in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand face barriers to specialist health care.

Our physicians and paediatricians believe these policies are fundamentally wrong, unethical and penalise already traumatised people, particularly children, many of whom are fleeing conflict or persecution.

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Voluntary assisted dying

Since proposals to legalise voluntary assisted dying have been considered by Parliaments in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand the RACP established a Working Party to develop and publish a statement on voluntary assisted dying in 2018, informed by comprehensive, RACP-wide consultations with the membership.

The RACP respects and supports all its members and does not believe it is appropriate or possible to enforce a single view on a matter where individual conscience is important. We recognise that legalisation of voluntary assisted dying is for governments to decide, having regard to the will of the community, to research, and to the views of medical and health practitioners.

Legislative change related to voluntary assisted dying will affect individual members in different ways.  Different clinical settings require ethical and clinical considerations to be made carefully, deliberately and systematically. Our members are not unanimous in their support of or opposition to legislative change.

This statement should not be taken as support for legislative change. We will continue to highlight concerns about legislative proposals, drawing on both clinical experience and the ethical perspectives of our members.

We will continue to advocate for patient and physician well-being, in order to support our members and contribute our expertise as medical specialists who care for dying patients.

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Voice to Parliament

The RACP support the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution and the establishment of a First Nations Voice to Parliament. Through a RACP statement it reflected the College’s long-standing commitment to improving health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their communities.

We recognise the devastating legacy of colonisation on the health and wellbeing of all First Nations Australians – the impacts of which manifest in health inequities that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples continue to experience today.

By actively listening to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and involving them in the decisions, laws and policies that affect their lives, we can build trust and heal, improve access to culturally safe healthcare services, and support better health outcomes overall.

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