Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Matt Hepworth spoke with AMA Australian Medical Association President Dr Robert Parker

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Matt Hepworth spoke with AMA Australian Medical Association President Dr Robert Parker · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Three sixty with Katie Wolf thanks to Joyce Main, Darwin
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  Speaker 1: hans O and Stuart Highway Beer.
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  Speaker 2: Matt Matt Hepworth filling in for Katie Wolf this morning.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, we are four days into the national role
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  Speaker 2: out of Phase one B of the COVID nineteen vaccine.
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  Speaker 2: To find out how it's going in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: Is the Australian Medical Association Northern Territory President, Doctor Robert Parker.
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  Speaker 1: Dr Parker. Good morning morning, Matt. Dr Parker.
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  Speaker 2: Four days into Phase one B. How's the role out
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  Speaker 2: been so far in the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 3: Well, I haven't heard a lot of negative stuff, so
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  Speaker 3: that's probably in the case that that's going according to plan.
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  Speaker 3: I'd be interesting. I mean, I haven't heard from my
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  Speaker 3: local GPS, but I had mkesh Heikilwohl, who's a former
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  Speaker 3: AMA president and a Victorian GP. I think we're talking
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  Speaker 3: about some of the problems he was facing in Melbourne
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  Speaker 3: about large numbers of people requesting appointments, having to shift
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  Speaker 3: appointments and whatever. So I'd imagine how local members and
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  Speaker 3: local gps are possibly facing similar issues. But I haven't
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  Speaker 3: had any direct feedback about that.
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  Speaker 1: Dr Parker.
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  Speaker 2: For those who don't know who is eligible for Phase
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  Speaker 2: one B, well your.
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  Speaker 3: Knowledge, I think it's people over fifty five Indigenous people
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  Speaker 3: people at risk, So I haven't got the criteria in
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  Speaker 3: front of me, but it's more My understanding is more
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  Speaker 3: vulnerable individuals you might be at risk of consequences from
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  Speaker 3: the covert virus.
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  Speaker 2: We heard from the Palmerston GPA superclinic yesterday that they
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  Speaker 2: are going to begin administering the vaccine from today. Do
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  Speaker 2: we know how many places across the territory are delivering
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  Speaker 2: the vaccine as part of Phase one B?
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  Speaker 3: My understanding is, again I probably need to be corrected
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  Speaker 3: on this. Maybe ten general practices around the territory have
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  Speaker 3: been allocated to deliver it, but I couldn't give you
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  Speaker 3: any jest number.
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  Speaker 1: That's all right.
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  Speaker 2: We also, when we're speaking to them yesterday, we heard
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  Speaker 2: that they're going to start off slow just to make
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  Speaker 2: sure everything, all the policies and procedures are in place.
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  Speaker 1: Today.
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  Speaker 2: I think they set around sixty but that's expected to
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  Speaker 2: ramp up for them in the coming weeks.
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  Speaker 1: Would that be the same with other gps as well?
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  Speaker 3: That would probably be the casious.
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  Speaker 2: Now do we know obviously that will increase. As you
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  Speaker 2: mentioned in the coming weeks as well, we had heard
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  Speaker 2: some reports of delays in shipments and the overall roll
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  Speaker 2: out across the nation. I know there was a bit
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  Speaker 2: of back and forth between the Commonwealth government and the
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  Speaker 2: Northern Territory government last week about the astrosenica vaccine.
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  Speaker 1: Where is that at at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: I've had no further information about it. You probably need
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  Speaker 3: to talk to you. Yeah, I've certainly not given any
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  Speaker 3: information by the government about whether or not the Asia
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  Speaker 3: vaccine has been progressed.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was good to hear you mentioned before that
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  Speaker 2: you've had you know, what are we in four days in?
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  Speaker 2: No negative feedback so far as well. Do you think
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  Speaker 2: as the vaccine rollout goes on and more people get
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  Speaker 2: vaccinated there seems to be an increase in public confidence?
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  Speaker 3: Well, certainly, I think certainly if you've got the vaccine
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  Speaker 3: on board, I think that will raise public morale. I mean, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: it's almost a given that's going to happen.
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  Speaker 2: And doctor Parker, as the vaccine roll out goes on,
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  Speaker 2: how is that going to look in some of our
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  Speaker 2: more regional and remote communities. I mean, to get the
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  Speaker 2: vaccine out to places like arnhem Land or the Tiwi
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  Speaker 2: Islands or the Berkley I imagine that's going to be
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  Speaker 2: quite complex.
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  Speaker 3: Well, again, obviously the Health Department's done some significant planning
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  Speaker 3: in this regard. Again, the astronemic vaccine far better suited
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  Speaker 3: for the for use in the remote communities because you
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  Speaker 3: don't have the temperature issues associated with the fize of vaccine.
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  Speaker 3: I think now the days you're available, I think it's
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  Speaker 3: going to be it's going to be a significant acceleration
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  Speaker 3: of the rollout.
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  Speaker 1: That is good to hear.
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  Speaker 2: What about yourself, doctor Parker, when were you beginning the vaccine.
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  Speaker 3: I've had my first fives of Vaccine'm getting the next
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  Speaker 3: one in a couple of weeks, so I had a
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  Speaker 3: bit of a muscle ach the day after, but otherwise
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  Speaker 3: no side ef things. So very happy so far with
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  Speaker 3: my first mist vaccination.
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  Speaker 2: What was that like, because I mean, for the last months,
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  Speaker 2: the world has really come to a stop because of
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  Speaker 2: this virus, and so much hope has has been waiting
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  Speaker 2: on the on the rollout of the vaccine for the
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  Speaker 2: last twelve months. What was that experience like for you
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  Speaker 2: personally and particularly being a part of the AMA being
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  Speaker 2: so involved, you know in the in the last twelve
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  Speaker 2: months and then part of the rollout.
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  Speaker 1: Now, what was that like for you?
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  Speaker 3: Well, again I was very impressed. I mean I'm one
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  Speaker 3: of the highest individuals for range WISH. I'm working directly
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  Speaker 3: in clinical areas, which is why I was which was
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  Speaker 3: why I was high priority. I was very organized. Basically
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  Speaker 3: I had to lay for a week as I had
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  Speaker 3: of course in Brisbane, came back, I was given an
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  Speaker 3: appointment time, turned up to a questionnaire, feel that consent,
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  Speaker 3: got the injection, had to wait for a few minutes
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  Speaker 3: just to check and on the way and it all
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  Speaker 3: went very smoothly from my perspective.
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  Speaker 1: That is good to hear. Doctor Parker.
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  Speaker 2: A quick question with that notice for you, I know
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  Speaker 2: a few months ago, in fact, it might have been
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  Speaker 2: late last year. Now you'd flag some issues around Royal
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  Speaker 2: Dalen Hospital and traffic management and the fact that there
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  Speaker 2: is only one major road into our hospital. I know
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  Speaker 2: the government we're going to look at that. Has there
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  Speaker 2: been any further progress on that.
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  Speaker 3: This has been a tend to put out to a
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  Speaker 3: company I think it was thirty eight thousand dollars A
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  Speaker 3: couple of about a month ago to look to actually
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  Speaker 3: investigate traffic flow, and I, along with the Minister, look
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  Speaker 3: forward to the results of that to obviously progress further
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  Speaker 3: much more efficient traffic management.
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  Speaker 2: There was talk that perhaps a second road could be
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  Speaker 2: built into the back end of the hospital.
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  Speaker 3: Is that the case, Well, it's complex, probably the best
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  Speaker 3: way to describe it. A second road could it could
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  Speaker 3: probably be easily built through lines, and I think there
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  Speaker 3: is already a sort of potential road that could be
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  Speaker 3: done there, but that obviously would impact significantly on traffic
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  Speaker 3: flow flow through lines and dozens of lines that probably
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  Speaker 3: have their own view on you know, a light traffic flow,
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  Speaker 3: something developing into a heavy traffic flow, and the potential
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  Speaker 3: for the safety for the residents and their families. The
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  Speaker 3: other option of potentially is to build a breach further down,
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  Speaker 3: further down Rockland's Drive, which would go into the sort
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  Speaker 3: of southwestern part of the hospital. But that'd be obviously
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  Speaker 3: a lot more expensive in terms of capital. So I said,
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  Speaker 3: I look forward again to seeing what the results of
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  Speaker 3: the traffic close study area.
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  Speaker 2: And it recently, as you mentioned, interesting to see that
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  Speaker 2: Dr Robert Parker from AMA n T anything else we
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  Speaker 2: should know about from the association at the moment.
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  Speaker 3: Well, it's good to see they have been very concerned
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  Speaker 3: about injuries relating to scooters. Our members have been telling
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  Speaker 3: us there's been a significant number of people presenting with
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  Speaker 3: quite serious injuries to three eds, usually after the pub's close.
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  Speaker 3: And it's very good to see the Down Council and
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  Speaker 3: the Scooter Organization of paying attention to our concerns and
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  Speaker 3: are actually either educating or monitoring closely the use of scooters,
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  Speaker 3: particularly when people are inebriated and probably more likely to
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  Speaker 3: use them in a responsible way.
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  Speaker 2: There was some suggestions that we could lock them up
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  Speaker 2: or turn them up at night.
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  Speaker 1: Would you support such your proposal?
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, I think in the end, I mean particularly in
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  Speaker 3: high risk areas such as Mitchell Street after the publisher
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  Speaker 3: the that is a major concern. But probably more of
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  Speaker 3: a concern to me actually is a recent article published
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  Speaker 3: by a bunch of Aboriginal academics to point out that
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  Speaker 3: fifty percent of Aboriginal people over fifty five forty five
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  Speaker 3: actually died from smoking related causes. I mean the process
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  Speaker 3: of writing a letter to every territory politician pointing out
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  Speaker 3: that you know this is having a major smoking is
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  Speaker 3: having a major impact on Territorians and the health of Territorians,
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  Speaker 3: and the fact that fifty we've got a much higher
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  Speaker 3: rate of Indigenous population years and the rest of Australia,
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  Speaker 3: and you know, fifty percent of those people over forty
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  Speaker 3: five have died due to smoking righty causes. And the
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  Speaker 3: government does desperately need to do something about smoking. The
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  Speaker 3: fact that the that the Inenti Is won the amaty
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  Speaker 3: Astray Award five years in a row. It's sortatly stacking
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  Speaker 3: up in our office and perhaps all these horrible little
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  Speaker 3: cups full of dirty cigarette butts we have presented one
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  Speaker 3: of the minister and we have to present another one
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  Speaker 3: on Thomas Dad's. You know, it's a national disgrace the
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  Speaker 3: government government doing least to deal with smoking, which is
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  Speaker 3: killing a significant number of Territorians.
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  Speaker 2: And suit, yeah, I think something like COVID's really put
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  Speaker 2: that on the back burner and probably not something that
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  Speaker 2: we discuss enough by the sound of it.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, well, certainly, certainly smoking is killing a lot more
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  Speaker 3: Territorians than COVID at the moment.
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  Speaker 2: Just finally, doctor Parker, before you go, just had a
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  Speaker 2: text come in from one of our listeners. Just following
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  Speaker 2: on from those traffic issues around r d H, the
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  Speaker 2: text says why don't they expand services available at Palmerston
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  Speaker 2: Hospital to take pressure of r d H. Are you
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  Speaker 2: able to answer that or provide any further comment on.
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  Speaker 3: That at all. Well, again, the government has to work
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  Speaker 3: within its budget and some services are very expensive. For example,
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  Speaker 3: if you had it steptrics operating at at Parmer's Hospital,
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  Speaker 3: you'd have an obstetric registrar, am pediatric registrar and then
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  Speaker 3: an aesthetic registrar on call twenty four to seven to
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  Speaker 3: deal with that. And that's and from maybe maybe one
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  Speaker 3: delivery every couple of days. And so you know, the
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  Speaker 3: bureau cults of the Health Department of obviously going to
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  Speaker 3: look at the figures and say there's just not cost effective.
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  Speaker 3: So you know, I think there was a fairly sensible
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  Speaker 3: plan role that when I first looked at it, about
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  Speaker 3: what they could accommodate and how much it was going
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  Speaker 3: to cost, and the budget issues. And I suspect the
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  Speaker 3: Health bureauquests would love to particularly since we've had those
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  Speaker 3: issues code yellows at our the agrequently, I'd love to
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  Speaker 3: think about more, more more services at Palmerston to take
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  Speaker 3: some of the pressure off the age. But again it
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  Speaker 3: has to be done in the cost effective ways. So
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  Speaker 3: you know you and I aren't paying for paying more
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  Speaker 3: about tax for the health dollar.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah exactly. Well, Doctor Robert Parker a wide range of topics.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you so much for taking the time to chat
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  Speaker 2: to us this morning.
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  Speaker 3: My pleasure, Matt.
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  Speaker 1: That's Dr Robert Parker. Thanks.
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  Speaker 2: Doctor Parker from the Australian Medical Association's Northern Territory branch.