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M E D I C U S
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F R O M T H E E D I T O R
Stamp out instances which diminish our proud profession
Dr Michael Gannon
Continued from page 2
structures lend themselves to
harassment and indeed bullying.
There is an inherent power imbalance
between teacher and student, between
consultant and registrar/resident.
Wherever this exists, there are some
who will seek to take advantage of it.
It is occasionally the case that the
AMA’s industrial and professional
responsibilities can be at odds with each
other. This is not the case here, where
we need to stamp out instances which
diminish us collectively as a proud
profession, and by producing an unsafe
working environment, adversely affect
the care we provide our patients.
■
Re-tread Minister will be under pressure
A
ustralian Medical
Association (WA) President
Dr Michael Gannon sent
a letter of congratulations to new
State Health Minister, the Hon. John
Day on the day he was sworn into his
new ministerial position, beginning
with the immortal introductory line:
“Welcome back!”
The AMA (WA) knows Minister Day
well, and he knows the AMA, it should
be said. We are confident that we will
be able to work with him, and engage
him in the same way that we did
when he last had responsibility for the
State’s biggest portfolio.
Mr Day served as Health Minister from
1998 to 2001 and health is sometimes
given by armchair psephologists as a
reason that the Richard Court Liberal
Government lost its bid for a third
term.
But while Mr Day might know his way
around health, he will find a very
different health service to the one he
left a decade and a half ago and will
be shocked with just how huge it has
grown.
It is fascinating to compare two annual
reports from the Health Department.
The 2003-04 Annual Report, with its
“Director General’s Overview” written
by Professor Mike Daube, reveals
a total health budget of $3.1 billion,
646,000 emergency department visits
and a total population of 1.94 million.
The 2013-14 Annual Report, written by
Professor Bryant Stokes, reports on a
population of 2.6 million, a total health
budget of $8.1 billion; and ED visits of
just over a million a year.
And not only is the department and
health massively bigger than when
Mr Day left it but the political pressure
has also grown.
Only time will tell if Mr Day’s revered
“safe pair of hands” can handle the
tsunami of problems currently lapping
the upper levels of Dumas House.
However, he can be reassured that
the AMA (WA) is willing to assist him in
the job.
Thank you for your courage
Before I end this column, mention
must be made of the many hours that
so many people gave to makes this
edition of
Medicus
one of the most
important we have published in years.
Since the idea of a survey on sexual
harassment of all WA medical
professionals was first decided on last
year, it has been an intensive job of
writing the survey, collating the data,
interpreting the worrying results and
deciding the best way to approach
what is obviously an insidious practice.
More importantly, we did not want
to just have a story about the survey,
or even to just have a range of views
about what we already knew was a
problem. Rather, we wanted to start a
discussion on how to find ways to fix
this problem.
The establishment of a Taskforce
between the Health Department
and the AMA (WA) is a small but a
positive start.
We thank all those who have put
their hands up to join the Taskforce.
It will not be easy work and it will,
we suspect, be frustrating at times.
We will be a better profession and
a better society as a result of those
who helped with the original idea, the
questions, and those who will help
plan the road ahead.
To shine a light into the darkest
corners of society is to promote
change.
■
Dr Michael Gannon
AMA (WA) President