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.