The Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare (ACSQHC) has released its revised National Model for Clinical Governance. The new model replaces the existing version from 2017.
The federal AMA welcomes the inclusion of psychosocial safety in the new model, something the AMA Council of Doctors in Training, and Drs4Drs National Leadership Alliance have long advocated for.
The changes include embedding psychosocial safety into clinical governance and ensuring hospital boards and executives are responsible for establishing an organisational culture of psychosocial safety, cultural safety, and patient safety.
The AMA hopes the prioritisation of mental wellbeing will further support the delivery of high-quality care and address some of the challenges identified by medical professionals in recent years.
The 2025 Medical Training Survey found that one in three doctors in training reported experiencing or witnessing unacceptable workplace behaviours in the preceding 12 months, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees disproportionately affected at 56 per cent.
Nearly half of all trainees rated their workload as heavy or very heavy, and just half of specialist trainees reported adequate access to mental health support. The embedding of psychosocial safety in the national model is an important step in closing these critical gaps in wellbeing infrastructure.
Poor medical culture not only creates and exacerbates workforce issues, including attraction and retention, but it can also ultimately pose a risk to patient safety.
The AMA will continue to advocate the highest standards of wellbeing, including psychosocial safety, across all medical settings.
