Taking care

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency hosts conversations and interviews with people in our community. We discuss current issues, address myths and common questions, and think about what we can do to best protect the public and support the safe delivery of healthcare in Australia.

Health & Fitness
1
The challenges for our overseas workforce
Why the system needs to keep adapting to better support a safe, diverse and appropriate health workforce
38 min
2
'Racism makes us sick’: Associate Professor Car...
What's being done to make our healthcare system culturally safe?
20 min
3
Professor Rosalind Searle on building trust in ...
Building trust is fundamental to safe healthcare, as is responding effectively when a practitioner breaches that core responsibility to a patient
25 min
4
Innovations in rural and remote healthcare
What’s great about our rural and remote healthcare services and the people who work in them? A lot, and the conversation is just getting started with our two guests Faye McMillan, Deputy National Rural Health Commissioner and Richard Colbran, CEO NSW Rural Doctors Network.
32 min
5
The inextricable link between climate change an...
The link between our health and access to safe healthcare and the impacts of climate change are undisputable. But what is the path forward?
35 min
6
Physiotherapy and person-centred care
Celebrating World Physiotherapy Day and the broad range of work they do to help patients get moving – and keep moving
23 min
7
The unique world of rural and remote healthcare
How far will some patients travel to access safe healthcare? And what is unique about the patient and practitioner experience in rural and remote Australia?
32 min
8
When cost is a barrier to good healthcare
Inflation is rising and consumers are being hit with cost-of-living increases. What does this mean for access to healthcare?
29 min
9
Safe and adequate healthcare for people experie...
Host Tash Miles talks to two GPs, Dr Ed Poliness and Dr Andrew Davies, about the important work being done in this space
22 min
10
Practitioners providing safe healthcare for our...
In this episode, we hear two stories of people in LGBTIQA+ communities and their experiences with healthcare. Host Tash Miles talks with clinical neuropsychologist, Board member Victorian Pride Centre, and Commissioner at the Victorian Multicultural Commission Dr Judy Tang and clinical psychologist and Senior Research Fellow Dr Lee Cubis.
26 min
11
Safe and person-centred healthcare for refugee ...
What does respectful, accessible, person-centred healthcare look like for communities who come from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds? In this episode, host George Hyde speaks with infectious diseases specialist Dr Nadia Chaves, counsellor Tigist Kebede, and lawyer Sahema Saberi.
35 min
12
Openness and candour – a road to greater patien...
In this episode we look at the benefits of greater openness and candour between health practitioners, their patients and patients’ families – especially when things go wrong.
38 min
13
Two voices from LGBTIQA+ communities
In this episode, we hear two stories of people in LGBTIQA+ communities and their experiences with healthcare. Host Tash Miles talks with Jasper Peach a writer, editor, speaker, health promoter, and Toby Halligan, a comedian, writer, broadcaster.
28 min
14
Patient safety and cosmetic surgery
Today we’re talking about cosmetic surgery, an industry that is rapidly changing and has had some explosive media coverage in recent times – especially through new and increased uses of social media. It’s a timely discussion of what changes are needed to improve patient safety.
45 min
15
Health practitioners’ role in eliminating famil...
Family violence is a reality that many people face every day. Host Susan Biggar begins this episode with the first-hand story of a survivor, Emma*, on her pathway out of family violence and her varied experiences with health practitioners on the journey. After telling some of her story, Emma is joined by Professor Kelsey Hegarty, an academic GP who holds the joint Chair in Family Violence Prevention at the University of Melbourne and the Royal Women’s Hospital and Dr Anne Tonkin, Chair of the Medical Board of Australia.
43 min
16
Honest error and system failure – challenges fo...
When it comes to healthcare, what is safe culture? If safe culture exists, then what does unsafe culture look like, and what does this mean for patients and their families? In this episode, Susan Biggar speaks with Andrea Sutcliffe, Chief Executive and Registrar of the Nursing and Midwifery Council in the UK, Martin Fletcher, CEO of Ahpra and Adjunct Professor Debora Picone, CEO of the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare.
34 min
17
Being a patient during a pandemic
When we talk about healthcare, the most important part is the patients. Today’s episode is about what it has been like to be a patient during a pandemic. Tash Miles speaks to Krystal, Aidan and Tess about about the changes they’ve seen – what’s been hard, what’s been better and how they have maintained connection with their practitioners through the pandemic.
34 min
18
Let’s talk about a safe culture in healthcare
Susan Biggar speaks with Dr Rod Hunt, neonatologist and scientist at Monash Health, Professor Suzette Woodward, Visiting Professor in Patient Safety at Imperial College, London and Michael Greco, CEO of Care Opinion Australia. Susan asks our guests, when it comes to healthcare, what is safe culture?
33 min
19
Being a health practitioner during a pandemic -...
Join Tash Miles as she talks with Dr Gavin Wayne, paediatric basic trainee, and Ralph Teodoro, registered nurse, about the experiences of being a health practitioner during the pandemic, personally and professionally. They share what they’ve learned, what they’ve cherished, and the strange turns their lives are taking.
20 min
20
Being a health practitioner during a pandemic -...
In this episode, host Tash Miles talks to two doctors about some of their experiences over the past two years. From NSW, Dr Charles Jenkinson, cardiothorasic surgeon final year trainee and Chair of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons Trainees' Association and from Victoria, Dr Sophie Thorn, junior doctor working in an emergency department.
26 min
21
Making room to improve
What does improvement in healthcare look like? It’s critically important for our health system because sustained improvement that tracks with the science and evidence will mean improved patient safety. Dr Michael Tresillian is general physician and Program Director for the Healthcare Improvement Fellowship. Sari Holland is a midwife and unit manager at Townsville Hospital and Health Service. She was a 2020 Fellow of the program. Shailendra Maharaj, is a physiotherapist at Queensland Children’s Hospital and a current Fellow.
32 min
22
Long COVID and the role of physiotherapy
What is long COVID? What are some of the effects, who is most at risk and what can be done to help those who suffer from it? Host George Hyde is joined by Scott Willis, National President of the Australian Physiotherapy Association, A/Prof Dale Edgar, who is leading the longitudinal study on the effects of COVID termed LATER-19 and Dr Paula Harding, a musculoskeletal physiotherapist at the Alfred Hospital prior to COVID-19, who in 2021 was appointed as the Allied Health Workforce Manager for the COVID-19 response.
27 min
23
Choice and person-centred dying
This episode is about VAD, or voluntary assisted dying, and the realities of legalising VAD for doctors, patients and our broader communities. Host Tash Miles speaks with television and podcast presenter and founder of Go Gentle Australia, Andrew Denton, oncologist Dr Cameron McLaren and regional Victorian GP Dr Nola Maxfield.
45 min
24
The law and patient choice at the end-of-life
The law in Australia has changed in several states in the past two years regarding voluntary assisted dying (VAD) and possible legislative changes are being considered in others. Susan Biggar is joined by two doctors with extensive experience and interest in the law and its application in the context of VAD: intensive care specialist and Deputy Chair of the VAD Review Board in Victoria, Dr Charlie Corke, and medical practitioner and Chair of the VAD Board in Western Australia, Dr Scott Blackwell.
30 min
25
The student view of rural healthcare
Tash Miles hits the open road to hear the student perspective on healthcare in rural and remote communities. We meet podiatry student Hayley Johns, medical student Harry Gaffney and medical student and pharmacist Debra Lee. We hear about the unique opportunities presented when living and working in outside of metropolitan centres.
27 min