THE ACT Health Director General Dr Peggy Brown has been sent out to explain that the Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RANZCOG) has extended the training accreditation for the Centenary Hospital for Women and Children for a further six months until October. This means the accreditation has not been met on time.

Dr Brown said the decision to extend the accreditation period was made in recognition of ACT Health making staffing improvements at the hospital, including the recruitment of a new Clinical Director who will start in April.

Last year, RANZCOG assessors identified a number of issues that impacted on ACT Health receiving continuing accreditation to train registrars in obstetrics and gynaecology. As a result some recommendations for improvement in training were made. Since then ACT Health has been workinghard to address these matters, in consultation with the RANZCOG.

RANZCOG President Professor Michael Permezel said the College is dedicated to maintaining the highest possible standards in the practice of obstetrics and gynaecology and women’s health.

“ACT Health has given an undertaking to meet the conditions required for continued training accreditation, and RANZCOG acknowledges the key role that the new Clinical Director will have in overseeing the necessary changes,” Professor Permezel said.

ACT Health Director General Dr Peggy Brown said a number of measures have already been implemented, with others in the planning stages.

“ACT Health is committed to implementing the changes necessary to see the hospital receive continued accreditation as a facility for training the next generation of doctors specialising in women’s health,” Dr Brown said.

“ACT Health has already recruited a new Clinical Director, made a number of staffing changes for junior and senior medical staff and begun looking at options to address the level of demand within the service which impacts on the overall workload, including for RANZCOG trainees and their supervisors.

“We do know however that there is more to be done and work is ongoing in relation to see that other specified training requirements are met.”

These include:

• timing of education sessions
• appropriate study leave
• availability of ultrasound training
• supervised clinical experience in the many procedures expected of an obstetrician and gynaecologist.

“ACT Health will continue to work with the RANZCOG to meet the accreditation standards,” Dr Brown said.

UPDATE: Jeremy Hanson had this to say in response:

“This latest accreditation is not an endorsement of the obstetrics unit by RANZCOG. Its own procedures state the minimum accreditation period is one year or in extreme cases that applications for re-accreditation be rejected. This is not an acceptable outcome.

“The two consecutive six month accreditations indicate major problems in obstetrics haven’t been fixed. It reflects very poorly on Health Minister Simon Corbell’s ability to resolve the deep running issues in the ACT Health system.”