For some time, including at our August Regional and Rural Clinician Forum, AMA Victoria has been hearing concerns about rural Victorian hospitals losing on-call general practitioners due to recent system changes, such as the introduction of the Victorian Virtual Emergency Department (VVED).

While virtual care initiatives like the VVED have provided crucial support since the COVID-19 pandemic, they are leading to unintended consequences. Feedback from medical practitioners highlights a troubling trend: the erosion of on-call rosters, reduced training opportunities for registrars, and challenges in maintaining rural generalist training accreditation. These concerning developments (defunding, deskilling, and remote call substitution) threaten the long-term sustainability of the rural medical workforce and its capacity to deliver high quality care.

AMA Victoria has been advocating strongly to the Department of Health, raising these issues and seeking clarity on their awareness of the challenges, as well as the strategies they are considering to address recruitment and retention issues in rural Victoria. We have also asked how the Department plans to balance changes to on-call systems in small hospitals, as mooted in the Health Services Plan, with its broader workforce strategy and the ongoing challenges of rural medical workforce retention.

We are pleased to inform members that the Department has acknowledged these concerns and recently met with rural hospital CEOs to discuss the matter. While feedback from CEOs was reportedly mixed, the Department confirmed that the unintended consequences of the VVED are on their radar and align with the issues raised by AMA Victoria. This work is still in its early stages, but the discussion represents a positive step forward.
 

What you can do

The Department has advised that members can raise any concerns about this issue directly with their hospital CEOs. For those who prefer AMA Victoria to raise these concerns on their behalf, you can confidentially share your CEO’s name and contact details with us. Additionally, members are welcome to provide further feedback or concerns directly to our Senior Policy Adviser, Lewis Horton, at [email protected].

Maintaining on-call rosters and accredited training capacity is essential for building and sustaining the rural generalist workforce. It is critical that the unintended consequences of virtual care and remote call substitution are addressed to ensure the ongoing viability of rural medical services and to support the delivery of high-quality care for rural Victorians.