Welcome to ADF!

The Shepherd Centre
The Shepherd Centre teaches children aged 0-6 years who are deaf and hearing impaired how to listen and speak so that they can reach their full potential in the hearing world. The Shepherd Centre was founded in 1970 by Dr Bruce Shepherd AM and his late wife Annette, and commenced with just five families. Today The Shepherd Centre helps over 250 children and families in five centres in NSW and ACT, as well as families in rural and remote areas of Australia and overseas via our residential workshop and ongoing Skype contact. Our early intervention program focuses on training parents to seize every opportunity in day to day situations to teach their children to listen and speak. Our aim is that children will start as fully-integrated students in the mainstream school of their choice. In 2010, 100% of our graduates for whom English is their first language, and who have no additional needs, graduated with age appropriate language skills. The Shepherd Centre is a family-centred charity that has to raise over 70% of its revenue through fundraising.

Australian Doctors Orchestra - 2011 Charity Concert
2pm Sunday 18th September 2011 at Sydney Town Hall, Sydney. The Australian Doctors Orchestra (ADO) is a unique national membership of medical professionals who are also classically trained musicians. Since its first concert in 1993, the orchestra has played a concert every year in every state and used each occasion to raise funds for charity.

Medical Registration - Trashing our Senior Doctors is not an option!!
Urgent meeting Sunday, 7 August 2011. What happens to our senior colleagues happens to us. Your senior colleagues need your support. The ADF is campaigning for a new registration category for senior doctors.

Quotable quotes – Rudd "health reforms"
Quotes in date order. Prof Henry Ergas, Economics Professor, Harvard & Monash University, Tony Morris, QC, Former Queensland Royal Commissioner into Bundaberg Hospital, Prof John Deeble – architect of Medicare,Stephen Milgate Executive Director ADF, Kevin Rudd, Dr Harry Hemley, President AMA Victoria, Roger Corbett, former Woolworths Chief Executive and Chairman of the Westmead Children’s Hospital Board and Board member of the Reserve Bank of Australia, John Brumby Vic Premier, Gary Johns, 15/4/10 former Labor Special Minister for State in the Keating Government, Ken Baxter, Senior public servant, former Head of NSW & Vic Premier’s Department.

ADF Audiocast
In this Broadcast Mr Stephen Milgate the CEO of the Australian Doctors Fund leads a detailed discussion with the Doctors behind  Doctors Action  - a group of GPs examining the ideology behind recent government health policies

Federal Health Minister staffer tells all
Our section was under-budget by hundreds of thousands of dollars, necessitating we blow all the unspent money before the end of the financial year. Unfortunately, ''training'' did not mean I would finally get some training. ''Training'' consisted of hastily booked, dubiously relevant conferences and courses, most of which were conveniently located a long way from Canberra.
Despite my short length of service, I was included in the spending free-for-all. I later found myself in a plush Sydney harbourside hotel with hundreds of dollars in unnecessary travel allowance - everything, including meals, flights and accommodation, was covered by the department. I was attending a conference on Web 2.0, a topic I was mildly interested in but which had nothing to do with my duties.

Response to the Public Consultation paper on the definition of practice

The ADF recommends that the Medical Board of Australia (MBA) can help remedy "unintended consequences" that have arisen since the inception of national registration by implementing two urgent reforms, namely, adopting a new definition of medical practice (specifically for medical practitioners) as recommended in this submission, and simultaneously creating a new category of registration for senior active doctors.
New Definition proposed by Dr Bruce Shepherd AM, Chairman, Australian Doctors' Fund "Medical practice means any role in which qualified medical practitioners use their professional discretion within the limits of their knowledge, training, and skill as medical practitioners for the direct or indirect benefit of patients."
Recognition of professional discretion. The inclusion in the definition of the recognition that the exercise of professional discretion is at the heart of competent medical practice should be noted. This term incorporates the professional traits of continuous self evaluation and the demonstrated reality that medical practitioners in good standing continually demonstrate the ability to work within their competencies. .

Submission: Administration of Health Practitioner Registration

The Australian Doctors’ Fund (ADF) maintains that the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is a flawed, unsafe and unaccountable model for the registration and regulation of members of the Australian medical profession.

In this submission, the ADF recommends that AHPRA no longer have any role in relation to the Australian medical profession and that the previous (pre-AHPRA) regulatory structures be re.established and upgraded in accordance with our recommendations at Point 25 of this submission. This submission makes no recommendations in regard to other health professions or occupations which have been included in the national registration scheme.

Proposal for Senior Active Doctors
Recent changes to medical registration for medical practitioners in the latter years of their professional career (misleadingly referred to as retired doctors) run contrary to Federal Government and Federal Opposition policy which is urging senior Australians to extend their working life and to keep contributing in their senior years. These changes also run the risk of making medical practice less safe by creating 'win all' or 'lose all' categories of medical practice and not allowing for or utilising the value of the growing number of doctors who will remain healthy and active into their senior years as our population ages. Historically, "retired" medical practitioners were able to use the title 'doctor' and maintain privileges such as prescribing and referring provided they maintained registration with the relevant State Medical Board. ...

Wilko's opinion pieces on health issues!

"Medicare Locals"
"Medicare Locals" it seems will solve the woes of anyone who has trouble finding a GP anywhere and at any hour. The usual buzzwords are there, about "access" and "equity". But hang on – wasn’t all this supposed to have been fixed up by MEDICARE – it has had 27 years to prove itself, after all.

The views expressed on the Wilko Report are those of Dr Jim Wilkinson and not necessarily those of the Management Committee, Board, or contributors of the ADF.