Beat Medical Blog

Nearly national medical registration?

Posted by Beat Medical

A bane of most locum doctors' existence is the lack of a national medical registration system. Thankfully, there is light at the end of the tunnel, with the formation of the new Medical Board of Australia, and national registration on 1st July 2010.

Many doctors will have already received a letter outlining the new system, and what you need to do next. There are some changes, with greater responsibility placed on the individual doctor to keep up their CME, undertake criminal history checks, and more. The actual registration fee remains unknown.

So, why is it nearly national registration? At the moment, there are three dissenting states - Western Australia, South Australia, and Tasmania - who have not passed the required legislation to make the national registration happen. Until this is completed, the national system will be rolled out to some states, but not the dissenting ones. If you are not registered in one of those rogue states, and you wish to be, you will still need to apply for mutual recognition.

When will true national registration happen? Your guess is as good as ours. We hope it happens sooner rather than later - with nationally mobile doctors in locum work across Australia, it is almost ridiculous that they need to go through a complex, paperwork laden process just to work in another Australian state.

What do you think about it? Let us know your thoughts...