'No doctors in the room'
The sixth Slater & Gordon Medical Law Forum was held on 10 May 2011, kindly co-hosted by the QUT Faculty of Law http://www.law.qut.edu.au/ & the QUT School of Nursing & Midwifery http://www.hlth.qut.edu.au/nrs/ and held with the support of the Australian Association for Bioethics and Health Law http://aabhl.org/.
The theme 'No doctors in the room' was a reference to the recent health system changes which see nurse practitioners and midwives now able to provide services direct to patients, accessing the Medicare and pharmaceutical benefits schemes.
Professor Rosalind Mason (Head, School of Law, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology) opened the Forum, which was chaired by Ms Margaret Brain of Slater & Gordon Brisbane. Invited speakers addressed those changes from the viewpoint of the patients as well as the practitioners, including:
- The realities of progress to date, by Associate Professor Hannah Dahlen (University of Western Sydney) and Professor Andrew Cashin (Southern Cross University);
- The ethical & disciplinary framework for nurse practitioners and midwives, by Associate Professor Malcolm Parker (University of Queensland);
- Insurance support for nurse practitioners and midwives, by Ms Cheryl McDonald (Medical Insurance Group Australia) and Mr Harry McCay (Avant Mutual Group);
- The legal framework, by Associate Professor Tina Cockburn (Queensland University of Technology) and Mr Ashley Jones (Norton Rose).
Slater & Gordon wishes to thank the speakers for their excellent presentations and to thank Queensland University of Technology for its support.
Past years
For details of the Slater & Gordon Medical Law Forums, follow the year links below.