AMSS Internship Submission

Thank you to those that submitted feedback on the draft AMSS Internship Allocation Submission to the South Australian Institute of Medical Education and Training (SA IMET). We have revised the draft accordingly and produced a final version. This was sent to Professor Geoff Thompson (Chair, SA IMET) at 17:50 on Monday 25 July 2011. We have made this document publicly accessible below.

We have also made the minutes of the Open Meeting on Friday 22 July available below. These were sent to SA IMET to ensure that all student views were available in their entirety and as close to verbatim as possible. However please note that the primary function of these minutes was to inform the submission, which has gone through more rigorous proofing and feedback processes. We release these minutes in the interests of complete transparency, but it is important to acknowledge that they are necessarily imperfect due to the pressures and speed of the Open Meeting.

The student meeting with SA IMET was held on the evening of Monday 25 July. Below is a brief summary of the meeting. Some informal notes from the meeting are also attached to this webpage for your information. We have also requested that SA IMET keep students as well informed as possible, and that a formal written response to your questions in the submission would be very well received in due course.

If there are any concerns or questions about this process, please do not hesitate to contact Tom Crowhurst (president@amss.org.au | 0439 810 678), Lachlan Farmer (lachlan.farmer@student.adelaide.edu.au), Rachel Jones (rachel.l.jones@student.adelaide.edu.au or Karthik Venkataraman (vpe@amss.org.au | 0430 495 079).

___________________________________________________________________________

SUMMARY FROM SA IMET STUDENT MEETING:

On the evening of Monday 25 July, student representatives from the University of Adelaide and Flinders University met with staff from the South Australian Institute of Medical Education and Training (SA IMET) including Professor Geoff Thompson (Chair) and Mr Brendan Peek (Manager).

The attendees from the University of Adelaide were: John Tillett, Michael Cilento, Leigh Warren, Adrienne Taylor, Arvind Rajagopalan, Catherine Reid, Jan Ho, Lachlan Farmer, Rachel Jones, Karthik Venkataraman and Tom Crowhurst. The meeting ran for approximately one and a half hours.

The students covered the following major points in this meeting:

- Students reinforced that there was no consensus on the issue, but rather that there were many divergent views and these were strongly held;
- Students drew attention to the questionable validity of the meeting, considering the short preparatory timeframe and the inability of attendees to accurately represent all students;
- Students highlighted that SA IMET should keep applicants as informed as possible;
- Students indicated that a written response to the questions raised in the AMSS Internship Allocation Submission would be well received; and
- Students stated that applicants would prefer a decision to be made as promptly as possible.

SA IMET provided the following information in this meeting:

- SA IMET have consulted a range of other stakeholders on this, including Junior Doctors;
- SA IMET have liaised with all their interstate counterparts and these were supportive, though it was noted that SA IMET is unable to compel any interstate body to do anything;
- SA IMET will attempt to adhere to the existing deadlines, but this cannot be guaranteed and will depend on many factors, including when a final decision is reached; and
- SA IMET have sought Crown advice on the legalities of the situation and this will be an important deciding factor in the ultimate decision, so therefore the next update from SA IMET will most likely occur on Wednesday 27 July.

We appreciate that all Sixth Years want access to as much information as possible. We will continue to attempt to provide you with all available information. Some informal notes from the meeting are attached to this webpage for your information. If you have any specific questions about the matter, please do not hesitate to contact me or the other individuals mentioned earlier.

Kind regards,

Tom

___________________________________________________________________________

AMSS MEDIA STATEMENT ON INTERN ALLOCATION PROBLEMS

On the morning of Wednesday 27 July 2011, I received a call from a reporter at the Advertiser asking for information and an AMSS comment on the problems with internship allocations in South Australia. We decided to prepare a formal written media statement, rather than relying on comments made in an uncontrolled environment over the phone.

Sam Kirchner, Karthik Venkataraman, Lisa Raven and I developed the media release attached to this webpage. This was sent to the reporter. Sam Kirchner was the Public Relations Officer for the Australian Medical Students' Association (AMSA) last year, and he provided a significant amount of advice and help with the statement.

Please do not hesitate to contact me via the above details, if you have any questions or concerns about this statement.

Kind regards,

Tom