The Medical Board of Australia (MBA) is proposing that late career doctors (aged 70 and older) have regular health checks to support their health and wellbeing and to prevent patient harm. 

The consultation paper released by the MBA sought feedback from stakeholders on the effectiveness of current requirements for late career doctors to manage their health, whether additional safeguards are needed and whether late career doctors should be required to have regular health checks so they can make informed decisions about their health and practice and manage the related risk to patients. 

The College sought our members' views on this proposal in August 2024 to inform our response. The RANZCP response, which summarises the balance of the views received from individual members and committees, is available on the College website.

The College supports that any process that routinely screens older doctors in Australia needs to balance the responsibility to protect patients from harm from undetected poor performance, with the costs and benefits. It must be fair to all doctors, including those who have no performance concerns, and avoid unnecessary loss of workforce.

For queries, please contact policy@ranzcp.org.