Beat Medical Blog

Potential for disruption to healthcare from QANTAS dispute

Posted by Beat Medical

It won't be news to you that over the weekend, QANTAS took the rare step of initiating a lockout of its staff following disputes with a number of employee unions.

There was a lot of talk about inconvenience to holidaymakers, the tourism industry, and the Melbourne Cup being disrupted by this extraordinary event. 

However, with any number of healthcare workers travelling around Australia to fill critical positions in hospitals, clinics and other facilities, there was huge potential for there to be a real and tangible effect on the provision of services to patients around Australia. 

When a highly skilled professional is expected to arrive in a marginally staffed facility over a weekend, and does not arrive, the effect can be devastating to the local community.

Beat Medical sends doctors and other professionals around Australia and the region on flights in big volumes every year. 

This weekend, as soon as we heard the news, we were immediately reviewing travel plans to make sure the disruption to our clients, and to the doctors working with us was minimal, or nil. Thankfully, we were able to ensure that all of the staff  we had committed to work over the weekend arrived, and will be able to return home.

For now, the dispute is on hold pending further resolution, however we call on both parties to consider the effect on the health system, and to ensure that those who are travelling to work in critical areas such as healthcare are given priority for flights.

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Training key to improving state of Regional Healthcare

Posted by Beat Medical

Hospitals across Australia, in small towns, regional centres and even capital cities are facing the universal challenge of not enough doctors to staff their emergency departments, operating theatres and wards. Not only are there not enough doctors, the problem is often one of adequate and up-to-date training.

For healthcare consumers who generally assume that medical staff are well trained, it may come as a shock that there can be great variability between the training, skills, and experience of individual doctors.

Having over 20 years combined experience in this industry, Beat Medical Directors Shaun Hughston and Leonie Shepstone are concerned that the level of training of many doctors is either not sufficient or current enough to fulfill the high clinical demands of regional and remote areas: “As part of the medical recruitment industry, we feel a responsibility to be part of the solution to regional health workforce shortages, offering a better trained, better qualified, more confident locum workforce” says Hughston.

Enter the Australian Institute of Clinical Education (AICE) –headed by Drs John Mackenzie, Andrew Ratchford, and Associate Professor Paul Middleton, each specialist Emergency Physicians, and experts in medical education and training. Says Mackenzie:

“As an Emergency Specialist, I have seen that there is a critical gap between medical school and ongoing medical practice. To fill this gap, medical professionals require consistent, up to date training. For those doctors who work as ‘generalists’ and choose not to specialise, we wanted to create an opportunity to access excellent training in a flexible way. We offer advanced online learning modules with HD videos, which are reinforced with face-to-face teaching, webinars, and support from experts in their field.”

AICE provides training in essential life support, emergency medicine, x-ray, paediatrics and trauma. As most of their courses are accessible online, the they open the doors to doctors in regional and remote areas who may otherwise miss out on such opportunities. Beat Medical and AICE are pleased to announce an alliance which will provide a gateway to up to the minute medical training for Beat Medical locums, with exclusive access to courses and content, and discounted training through support from Beat Medical.

Leonie Shepstone, Director, sums up the aim: “We want to offer extra value to both the doctors working with us, and also to the healthcare facilities and communities we are sending doctors to. By ensuring that these highly skilled professionals have access to great training wherever they are adds an element which is much needed in the healthcare community”.

Visit the AICE Learning website for more information.