This episode of Ahpra’s Taking Care podcast examines the path overseas health workers must tread when wanting to work in Australia’s health system.

With the final recommendations of a wide-ranging review into Australia’s regulatory settings for international health workers being handed down soon, we look at what solutions are on the table, why they are needed, and what impact they may have in the areas health workers are most wanted.

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Our focus for this episode is the varied experiences of health practitioners who choose to move to Australia to live and work. Host Susan Biggar joins Dr Rekha Mangalore, General Medicine and Infectious Diseases physician, Dr Renee Kelsall, Chief Medical Officer at Bass Coast Health and Helen Townley, National Director, Policy & Accreditation at Ahpra. They discuss complications of changing countries and continuing your career here, the requirements of ensuring a safe and appropriate workforce. This conversation highlights how important it is to hear firsthand from the experience of people navigating the whole process, including their views on how we can improve it.

If you have feedback, a story to share or an idea for a future episode, you can find us at [email protected]

Associate Professor Carmen Parter is a proud descendent of the Darumbal and Juru clans of the Birra Gubba Nation of Queensland with South Sea Islander heritage, the Tanna Island of Vanuatu. She has seen it all in her work in Australia’s healthcare system. She has hope that things are improving, and we can make our healthcare system culturally safe.

Now, she holds many roles, including Ahpra Board member, co-Founder and Director at the Learning Centre for Systemic Change and Research, was the inaugural Co-chair of the Indigenous Working Group of the World Federation of Public Health Association, a member of the Lowitja Institute member community, and Fellow of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives.

But, in this conversation we head back to beginning of her career...

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‘One of the most fundamental things is about trying to understand that a harmed person is a fragile person.'

Our first Taking care podcast episode of the year is with international guest Professor Rosalind Searle. Rosalind Searle is a Professor of Human Resource Management and Organisational Psychology at the Adam Smith Business School at the University of Glasgow. She is inaugural director of the EAWOP the (European Association of Work and Organisational Psychology) Impact Incubator.

Her research has examined trust in healthcare, specifically the matter of professional misconduct. She has examined in detail proven cases of sexual misconduct and abuse to reveal the moral mindsets that accompany these activities.

Speaking with host Susan Biggar, Professor Searle unpacks the areas where trust can be built – and eroded.

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What’s great about our rural and remote healthcare services and the people who work in them? A lot, and the conversation is just getting started with our two guests Faye McMillan, Deputy National Rural Health Commissioner and Richard Colbran, CEO NSW Rural Doctors Network. Host Tash Miles speaks with Faye and Richard about innovations and workarounds unique to rural and remote healthcare, and where there is opportunity for metropolitan health services to learn from what’s happening in rural/remote settings.

Please subscribe to our podcast and leave a rating or review. You can also provide feedback or ideas by emailing us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening.

As the guests in this latest episode of Taking care stress, the link between our health and access to safe healthcare and the impacts of climate change are undisputable. But what is the path forward?

Northern Territory specialist physician, Dr Simon Quilty, Melbourne obstetrician and gynaecologist and a member of Doctors for the Environment, Dr Ying Gu, and Canberra local and Professor of Health Equity and Director of the Menzies Centre for Health Governance at the Australian National University, Professor Sharon Friel, passionately detail their concerns, observations and what they see as the path forward.

Join for a discussion that includes the current impacts at a personal and community level and the structural changes needed to address the inequities exacerbates by climate change such as housing inequality.

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In this episode of Taking care, we explore the role of physiotherapists and the broad range of care they provide to patients over the course of their life. This is especially front of mind as we celebrate World Physiotherapy Day on 8 September.

Host Tash Miles is joined by Professor Kim Bennell, Director of the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine at the University of Melbourne; Rachel Nelligan, clinical physiotherapist and research fellow at the Centre for Health, Exercise and Sports Medicine; and Cherie Hearn, practitioner member of the Physiotherapy Board of Australia and Director of Physiotherapy at the Princess Alexandra Hospital in Brisbane.

In this episode of Taking care, host Tash Miles explores the challenges and joys of remote healthcare with consumer advocate, Carolyn Becker; Rural Doctors Association Australia CEO Peta Rutherford; and Alice Springs Hospital cardiologist Dr Angus Baumann. 

In this episode we explore the distribution of healthcare in rural and remote areas, and how these differences affect access for communities. Our guests share examples of the unique partnerships between patients and practitioners in rural and remote communities, as well as the considerations patients and families need to address when accessing care in these areas.

Don't forget to subscribe to Taking care, and why not recommend it to a friend or colleague! If you have any questions or feedback, please email [email protected].

In this episode of Taking care, we look at the impact on consumers of not being able to access the healthcare they need due to cost considerations.

Host Tash Miles is joined by Renate Hughes, consumer advocate; Dr Chris Sanzaro, dentist; and Associate Professor Amanda Neil, health economist from the University of Tasmania’s Menzies Institute for Medical Research.

We explore:

The taboo of asking about the cost of procedures before agreeing to them, and asking for other options if needed. 

The costs associated with living with a disability or other chronic condition with a reliance on healthcare. 

Practitioners trying to provide good care when cost is an issue.

Other ‘cost factors’ such as travel, time off work and childcare, that might affect a patient’s decisions regarding healthcare.

Make sure to subscribe and recommend this podcast to a friend or colleague. If you have feedback or comments, please email us at [email protected]

Useful links from this episode

Federal Department of Health Medical Costs Finder: https://www.health.gov.au/resources/apps-and-tools/medical-costs-finder

Medicare Safety Net: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/medicare-safety-nets

Couples and families can register for the Medicare safety net: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/ms016

Pharmaceutical Benefits Safety Net: https://www.pbs.gov.au/info/healthpro/explanatory-notes/section1/Section_1_5_Explanatory_Notes

Form to register you and family members and record your PBS purchases each time you purchase medications: https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/pb240

In this episode, we spotlight the important work being done to facilitate better access to safe care for people experiencing homelessness. Host Tash Miles talks to two GPs working in this space: Dr Ed Poliness is a GP at The Living Room in Victoria, and Dr Andrew Davies is a GP and founder of Homeless Healthcare in WA.