How AHPRA’s over-70s suspicions are ‘sowing the seeds of destruction’ for the entire health system

AHPRA, which may need to be renamed the Australian Health Professional Retrenchment Agency, seems to be coming up with more and more ways of dismantling the medical workforce of Australia — as if things were not bad enough.
Its latest moves are all about attempting to manage a perceived risk — the inadequacy of senior doctors — as reflected in its bizarre interpretation of notification statistics.
I believe, in doing that, AHPRA may be creating a far greater risk that impacts directly on the medical workforce.
That risk encompasses workforce morale; concomitant reduced quality of performance; reduced length of service; cost to society in terms of unfulfilled years of service; increasing difficulty in accessing medical care; and delays in investigation, diagnosis and treatment of patients.