Domain 5

The METC Director meets regularly with the Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of the NT DoH and other senior executives of NT DoH, he has represented the DoH on the Health Workforce Principle Committee (HWPC) a number of times and participated in working parties of the HWPC e.g. National Intern Review. He is a Board Director of CPMEC, and he is a committee member of the NT Medical Program Governance Committee. The NT Medical Program has been established as a partnership with Flinders University SA and the NT Government to ‘grow our own’ medical practitioners through a bonded/return of service employment scheme after the graduates have successfully completed their medical school studies in the NT. The METC Executive Officer/Accreditation Manager is a member of several committees with the CPMEC – Prevocational Medical Accreditation Network (PMAN), Principle Officer Committee (POC), and as a proxy to the CPMEC Board meetings when necessary. The Executive Officer is also the chair of the NT General Practice Education (NTGPE) Continuous Improvement and Education Governance Committee (CIEG) as well as a member of their general practice Accreditation Committee. This has enabled many opportunities to seek the views of this external medical education and training provider on the previous NTPMC and more recently established METC purpose and roles. This relationship has been strong and is assisting METC in building links to the rural and remote primary care environment. The PAC has a close working relationship with the NT Board of the Medical Board of Australia, communicating accreditation survey event reports to the Board for the Board’s decision for registration purposes. The Accreditation Manager can and does contact the AHPRA Regional Director to discuss issues relating to Intern accreditation and there have been occasions when a meeting has been arranged with the Chair of the NTBMBA again to discuss concerns and issues with intern accreditation in the NT. The accrediting authority actively supports the Medical Education Officers and Directors of Clinical Training at both sites through phone conversations both planned and unplanned as required. Face to face meetings are sometimes impromptu as a result of being in the area for another reason. Video conferencing when available and at the very least teleconferencing is used to discuss any major issues or concerns in relation to Intern education and training programs and/or accreditation of sites/posts. Both the Accreditation panel and committee have JMO representation and the JMO forum has AMA DIT representation. During the transition from the NTPMC to the METC the JMO Forum has undergone a review requested by the JMOs themselves, METC is awaiting direction and guidance from the JMO forum Chair as to how they would like METC to support and promote the JMO forum. Traditionally the JMO forum included representatives from both health services and included representation from the two health service RMO Societies. All junior doctors are invited to participate in the JMO Forum and the accreditation program. As METC becomes more in contact with the junior medical officers both long and short term employees the METC will be better situated to offer support and assistance to these medical practitioners. How METC may assist and support the JMO forum will be discussed as part of future agendas of METC Management Committee and as METC continues to develop its business unit’s communication strategy across all of its functions. There is opportunity for the JMO Forum to utilise a page on the METC website for publications meeting documents etc. The PAC has several junior doctors listed as current trained surveyors and the accreditation committee is actively looking for and promoting junior doctors to become surveyors for the prevocational accreditation program. This promotion will be stepped up later this year when a Surveyor training workshop is scheduled. Historically the accrediting authority has built a strong and close relationship with the NT DoH and its health service facilities where every opportunity is taken advantage of to discuss expectations and requirements for Intern training in the NT. There are no formal agreements in place between the accrediting authority and with any of these entities, as we are all part of the same government agency, DOH. The service agreements between the Health services and the DoH (system manager) are new to