The Board held its second virtual Northern Territory Conversations with the Board event on 18 August 2021.
We would like to thank the highly engaged Fellows and Trainees who joined the Board for a wide-ranging and robust discussion, particularly during a challenging period of lockdowns for most members in attendance. We look forward to hosting more of these events with NT Fellows and Trainees in the future. Below are some highlights from the discussions held.
Dr Jacqueline Small
RACP President-elect
Climate Change
Members raised the issue of climate change as a significant concern. A key College Policy and Advocacy Committee priority for 2021 is our Climate Change and Health research project. We are currently leading a program of work to develop a report on the implications of climate change for the Australian healthcare system and how to best manage these. Joined by eight other medical Colleges, we are reviewing the evidence, particularly what approaches have been successful, and encourage all members to engage with this issue. It is anticipated that this body of work will be complete in October 2021.
Travel has been a large contributor to the College’s carbon footprint. This has been significantly reduced over the last 18 months due to COVID-19 restrictions and we will continue to consider this as we move forward. For members interested in information regarding the College’s carbon footprint and progress towards reducing this, information can be found in the College’s annual reports.
In addition, we are pleased to confirm the theme for Congress 2022 will be ‘A Climate for Change’. Congress 2022 will provide opportunity to discuss climate change as well as the impacts of COVID-19 and how it has changed the way we work and how this may continue to change in the future. It will also be an opportunity to discuss and share ideas about how individual practices can change.
Engagement
We discussed ways in which the College could better and more consistently engage members. As many members will know, this year we have trialled our online communities platform, the RACP Online Communities (ROC). The pilot indicated the ROC could provide an effective mechanism for building connections and sustaining networks between members and resulted in a recommendation to proceed with rolling out the ROC to all College members. We encouraged all NT members to participate in the ROC and use the platform to network with other College members and to discuss topics and issues that are important to them, including relating to the experiences of working in rural and remote locations such as those in the NT. This might include building networks through ROC that can remain accessible even with relocations for work or training.
Advocacy
Members raised the advocacy work of the College, with particular focus on the importance of raising the age of criminal responsibility from 10 to 14, and the College’s efforts to advocate for this. We understand the impact of this on young people, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in the Northern Territory. We encourage members to post photos of themselves at the age of 10 on social media with the hashtag #RaiseTheAge in support for this change and to raise awareness for this cause.
We are also a member of the steering group for the national campaign to raise the age. Members can sign and share the national raise the age petition.
We are eager to work with regional committees to discuss how we can best advocate for local issues in collaboration with RACP State Committees. We encourage Fellows and trainees in the Northern Territory, and other jurisdictions, to reach out to their regional committee to raise issues.
Trainee Workforce
Members raised the need for adequate medical staffing in rural and remote areas. We are looking at ways in which we can adapt our training programs and assessments to mitigate any unnecessary barriers to this. It is important to ensure trainees have a sustainable workload, balancing the demands of service delivery, adequate training, and patient care. We are also keen for all trainees to gain more rural experience and to grow that workforce capability.
New accreditation standards will aim to address this, including changes to the number of trainees to supervisors, to ensure quality of training. We will be piloting a guide to assist training sites with these new standards.
We encourage all members, trainees in particular, to take up opportunities to contribute to our strategic planning consultations for our three-to-five-year strategic plan to commence in 2022, to ensure your voice is heard. We encourage creativity in thinking and look forward to engaging with all members in this.