Christchurch surgeon Associate Professor Phil Bagshaw, who chairs the Canterbury Charity Hospital Trust, is calling on doctors to actively speak out for their patients who are missing out on much-needed health care and for the provision of a quality public health system.
He told delegates at the annual conference of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (ASMS) in Wellington today that a return to active advocacy by doctors is needed. Physician advocacy had a long history within western medicine but had declined significantly in recent times.
“It was strongest when medical care was not very effective but it weakened during the 20th century as medicines improved and doctors gained knowledge and authority, and no longer needed to carry out advocacy work,” he says.
“As a result of those changes, there is now a lack of consensus on what constitutes physician advocacy and whether doctors should be doing it. Advocacy is seen by many doctors as distasteful and politically risky, and no longer necessary for patient trust, but it is a very important activity for us to be involved in.”
There were many examples where physician advocacy had been very effective in bringing about health improvements, including the anti-smoking campaign and resistance to the Treasury-driven health reforms of the 1990s.
“I support the view that active advocacy on behalf of our patients and the public system we work in are in fact important markers of professionalism, that it is our responsibility to speak out for what needs to improve,” he says.
