AMA (WA) in the Media

At the AMA (WA), we take pride in being a strong voice for doctors, patients, and the healthcare system as a whole. Over the past two months, the AMA (WA) has been in the media, speaking up on relevant issues like the Government’s Audit of Western Australia’s public health infrastructure. Here’s a look at some of our most significant media appearances.

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HIGHLIGHTS

CHANNEL 9 NEWS

Rise of ‘free birthing’

AMA (WA) President Kyle Hoath spoke to 9 News Perth about the alarming rise of free birthing – a deliberate choice to give birth without any medical assistance.
Dr Hoath warned Western Australians that free birthing is not the answer to genuine fears or concerns, saying that “you can’t have the medieval experience of a free birth and expect 2025 safety outcomes.”

ABC NEWS

Record ED wait times

WA patients are waiting in emergency departments for an average of 44 minutes, which is more than double the national average – even though we recorded one of the smallest increases in ED presentations. Dr Kyle Hoath told ABC News Perth that doctors aren’t surprised by this result. The AMA (WA) has been asking for more beds and investment into our health infrastructure, and clearly more needs to be done to get our public hospitals up to the standard WA patients deserve.

CHANNEL SEVEN NEWS

World-class care despite adverse audit

The Government recently released the findings of the audit into the maintenance of WA’s public health infrastructure. We deliver world-class care, thanks to our frontline workers and our tireless hospital staff, according to Dr Kyle Hoath, but there are serious problems that reports like this can help address, when fully released and implemented.

THE WEST AUSTRALIAN

Hard to eat healthy

The latest surveillance data published by WA Health shows that the rate of adults who reported running out of food and being unable to afford more has increased nearly 2% since 2023, to 8.4%. Dr Kyle Hoath worries that diet and exercise are being sacrificed as families trim their budgets in this cost-of-living crisis.

SOCIAL MEDIA

Facebook

AMA (WA) members continued to shine in December and January.

Notre Dame student Letisha Carozza was awarded the AMA (WA) Gold Medal Prize for the Best Student in Year 4. This post gained 44,344 views and 60 interactions.

Our post honouring the winners at the RACGP WA annual awards had 12,763 views and 55 interactions, and our post celebrating St John of God Murdoch’s Doctor of the Year, Dr Raj Mohan, had 15,663 views and 50 interactions.

Our top-performing LinkedIn post in December-January celebrated UWA Professor Pat Dudgeon, attracting 421 likes, 38 comments and 20 reposts. Our photos of Intern Orientation Week had 62 likes and 1,131 engagements. In December, AMA (WA) leadership were briefed by the Australian Digital Health Agency. Our post on this got 79 likes, 4 comments and 2 reposts.

This post reached 3,109 people, with 254 engagements. A post about Dr Kyle Hoath, Dr Bennie Ng and Jeremy Lee’s meeting with Kate Chaney MP, Federal Member for Curtin, was seen 3,164 times, with 172 engagements.