RANZCO acknowledges ophthalmology challenges

The challenges were initially raised in the Health Workforce 2025 report published in Novber 2012 by Health Workforce Australia (HWA). The HWA was a federal statutory authority established to coordinate health workforce reform. Its essential functions were transferred to the Federal Department of Health when it was closed in August 2014.The report anticipated a workforce supply shortage in ophthalmology by 2025. It also noted that the high average age of the workforce (53), maldistribution, and the small number of paediatric ophthalmologists in Australia were areas of concern.Dr Brad Horsburgh, RANZCO president and chair of RANZCO’s Workforce Committee, said the profession’s workforce supply situation had rained fairly stable since 2012 and that it was currently “broadly in balance” with dand.“RANZCO considers the overall supply of ophthalmologists to be appropriate for the dand of the Australian population and, based on the evidence available, we do not predict a shortfall in 2025,” he stated.However, he acknowledged that there were “geographic imbalances”, stating that more than 80% of the ophthalmology workforce was located in metropolitan areas.“It has always been difficult to attract specialist medical practitioners to practice in small regional towns,” Dr Horsburgh commented. “Having said this, it is worth noting that ophthalmologists commonly have one or more outreach practices to regional areas within their state.“The provision of general ophthalmology services, including [those provided by outreach clinics], is very good across the length and breadth of Australia. To maintain overall supply and dand balance, the [Federal] Government needs to continue Specialist Training Program funding and provide incentives to encourage specialists to take up public hospital positions in areas where there is a supply shortage.”Dr Horsburgh agreed the shortage of paediatric ophthalmologists was “real and well-documented”.“The key to solving the supply of paediatric ophthalmology is to provide more training and paediatric ophthalmology Visiting Medical Officer opportunities in public hospitals,” he stated. “Ophthalmology is not alone in having difficulty in recruiting sufficient specialist to work within the paediatric domain.”However, he said the workforce’s average age might be less of a probl than people suspected.“[It] may, in fact, be a sign of a change in working habits,” he suggested. “Some economists have argued that part-time work to an older age is likely to become common in the future.”RANZCO is in the process of conducting its biennial workforce survey, with the results expected to be released by early 2017.