Australian Medical Association (WA)

30/08/2026

Meet Professor Helen Wilcox, our incredible Women Innovating in Medicine Master of Ceremonies and panel moderator.

Professor Wilcox is Dean and Head of the UWA Medical School, a practising GP in suburban Perth, Medical Director of the Doctors Health Advisory Service Western Australia - dhaswa, and a member of AMA (WA) Council.

Through her clinical, academic and leadership roles, she brings a broad perspective on the opportunities and challenges facing women in medicine, together with a deep appreciation of the achievements of the panellists.

🎟️ Join us for this inspiring breakfast and hear from women driving change in medicine across WA.

Book your tickets now. Link in the comments 👇

28/08/2026

The AMA (WA) welcomes the addition of 60 public beds and three surgical theatres at St John of God Midland Public Hospital, alongside the opening of St John of God Health Care’s new 123-bed private hospital.

“This is a much-needed increase in capacity for a rapidly growing catchment that has been under sustained pressure,” Dr Kyle Hoath said.

Dr Hoath said the new facilities also highlights the important role that private hospitals play in supporting WA’s overall healthcare system.

“A strong and sustainable private sector improves patient access and choice while providing capacity that can help ease pressure on public hospitals, emergency departments and ambulance services,” he said.

“Greater collaboration between the public and private sectors should remain an important part of responding to growing healthcare demand.”

28/08/2026

St John of God Mount Lawley Hospital will officially become part of the public health system as of next week.

The State Government purchased the 196-bed hospital for $80 million in a bid to ease some of the pressure facing public hospitals, and it will officially enter the public health system on August 31.

ÁMA (WA) President Dr Kyle Hoath reinforces the need for more resilience in the health system:

“Our hospital system has very little capacity to absorb unexpected shocks. Despite ambulance ramping being less severe than last year’s record seasonal highs, hospitals across Perth are operating under significant pressure, with extraordinary demand in emergency departments, wards and intensive care units.”

Read more at the link below👇

St John of God Mount Lawley Hospital will officially become part of the public health system as of next week.

27/08/2026

AMA (WA) member GP, Dr Sean Stevens, spoke to 7 News about a new initiative to enable GPs to diagnose ADHD.

Dr Sean Stevens is one of the first GPs to complete the new course, which is designed to help clear the specialist bottleneck and reduce costs.

27/08/2026

AMA (WA) President Dr Kyle Hoath spoke to 6PR's Simon Beaumont about changes to private health insurance for people over the age of 65 and over the age of 70.

"If you're over 65 or over 70, there's a rebate that's an incentive for them to keep their private health insurance, which is important because our health sector is very much a delicate balance of the public and private sector.

"If we lose that balance and we have a number of Australians who are choosing not to continue their private health insurance because the rebate disappears, then that just means longer waits in the public sector, and particularly in those things like hip replacements, heart problems, cancer, that we don't see more frequently until later in life.

"We're asking for the Federal Government to reconsider this and to get some independent analysis around what the actual impacts are on the health system. And whether or not it does create actual savings for the Government, as they are saying, because again we just think it's shifting it somewhere else. We really want to know what is the impact on both the hospital viability if this happens, and then the demand that'll get shifted."

Link to the full interview in the comments👇

26/08/2026

Meet Yvonne Zissiadis, one of our Women Innovating in Medicine panellists.

Yvonne is a Radiation Oncologist and the Medical Director WA at Genesis Care. She is a leader in oncology treatment in WA and nationally and has held a number of leadership roles including Past President of the Australasian Society for Breast Disease, Adjunct Associate Professor at Curtin University, conjoint lecturer at ECU and UWA and Chair of the Australian Genesis Care Breast Tumour Reference Group.

Yvonne has a strong interest in clinical research and is an advocate for cancer patients. Whilst Yvonne treats predominantly breast, skin, upper gastro-intestinal and haematological cancers, she is strongly patient-centred, with a focus on improving patients' experience through the cancer journey which is often fragmented and stressful.

At Women Innovating in Medicine, she’ll share insights from her career in clinical practice, research and innovation in cancer care, and explore ways of dealing with the challenges of cancer care including her experience with a novel Bundled Care package for women with early breast ca and integrating exercise into cancer treatment.

Join us for an inspiring breakfast celebrating the women driving innovation across medicine in WA.

Book your tickets now. Link in the comments 👇

Thank you to our Presenting Partner Genesis Care for helping us share Yvonne's story.

26/08/2026

AMA (WA) President Dr Kyle Hoath spoke to Seven News Perth about last week's fire inside Fiona Stanley Hospital's ICU.

"A fire occurring in an ICU is really scary, this could have been far worse," Dr Hoath said.

"For staff to be able to maintain their clinical care whilst evacuating the ICU is exemplary.

“I'd be very surprised if the department and the hospital don't jump into quickly reviewing this and making sure there is no risk of this occurring again."

Thank you again to the staff who acted promptly to maintain clinical care for critically ill patients, including our highly valued, professional and compassionate AMA (WA) members.

25/08/2026

Oliver Peterson interviewed former AMA and AMA (WA) President Michael Gannon about his open letter to candidates for the AMA presidency, which will be decided later this week at AMA26 National Conference.

He speaks about how challenging the role can be, given the challenges that Australia's entire health system is facing, with general practice struggling, public hospitals underfunded, and the viability of private hospitals and health insurers increasingly precarious.

"In my article I referred to the things that were really important 12 years ago, and they're still important now, and every element of those still faces significant threats. There are certainly things that have improved over the years, but there are other pressures on the system," he says.

Link to the full interview in the comments.

24/08/2026

Meet Clinical Professor Michaela Lucas, one of our incredible Women Innovating in Medicine panellists.

From pioneering research in liver T-cell immunology to leading clinical research trials in Western Australia, Professor Lucas has built a distinguished career spanning clinical care, research and health leadership.

An Immunologist, Clinician-Scientist and UWA Immunology and Transplantation Laboratory lead, her research is transforming our understanding of allergies, immune health and transplantation. She is also leading the PERTH Trial, whose internationally recognised findings have sparked important conversations about environmental exposures and health.

At Women Innovating in Medicine, Professor Lucas will share insights from her journey as a clinician, researcher and leader, and explore how innovation is shaping the future of healthcare.

🎟️ Join us for this inspiring breakfast and hear from women driving change in medicine across WA.

Book your tickets now. Link in the comments 👇

24/08/2026

Oliver Peterson interviewed former AMA and AMA (WA) President Michael Gannon about his open letter to candidates for the AMA presidency, which will be decided later this week at AMA26 National Conference.

Listen to the full interview at https://pulse.ly/ivlpp2fdfg