When unprecedented becomes BAU

When unprecedented becomes BAU

Despite the chaos of the last few years, the core values of the medical profession remain the same and continue to be worth fighting for.

Since the bushfires of 2019/2020, the only thing more prevalent than a crisis has been the use of the word ‘unprecedented.’ Never in my life have the certainties you held on Friday been completely overtaken by Monday. This is presenting many challenges for our media and advocacy campaigns – there have been times we have been sure that a particular issue would make the front page, only to find it’s attracting little to no attention. Between severe weather events, the pandemic, and wars, there is no shortage of human tragedy to report on.  

In these times of uncertainty where uncertainty is the new certainty, it has been interesting to see that the foundational values that the AMA was built upon are still important – and still worth fighting for. These values include: 

• the independence of the doctor-patient relationship, where doctors are free to always be advocates for the best interests of their patients; 
• a public hospital system where any Australian can expect to receive world class healthcare from the world’s best doctors;
• the value of training, and ensuring that our medical students and doctors-in-training have sufficient opportunities to learn their craft; 
• supporting our private practices who have kept so much non-COVID healthcare going in the past two years;  
• ensuring rural and regional communities can access the healthcare they need and that the doctors providing that care are respected and supported. 

These are all objectives the AMA has recently been focused on, and they form the basis of our State and Federal election campaigns. 

We need the support of every doctor to fight for these values just as doctors have fought before for these critical pillars. 

Aside from our political advocacy, we have been watching with concern and sadness the events across NSW, particularly Northern NSW, where once again, natural disaster has destroyed homes and practices. We know that the toll on communities and exhausted healthcare workers is even greater than ever before, and AMA (NSW) is here to provide support and assistance to doctors and their communities.