The NSW Regional Committee has met 6 times since the last report. In addition, Dr Frank Moloney's time as Chairman has expired and Dr Michael Jones was voted the new Chairman as of July 2003. Dr Frank Moloney and Dr Matthew Crawford will be leaving the committee as of June 2004. They have both provided a magnificent contribution to College activities in NSW in particular, but also at a national level. Both are ex Chairmen of the Regional Committee and have been highly generous of their time and efforts to support College activities. Dr Moloney is to be awarded the Orton Medal at the College Annual Scientific Meeting in Perth - an honour that is most deserved.

Professional Affairs

Without doubt the two major issues that have confronted the committee in 2003/2004 have been Area of Need (AoN) and the Revised FANZCA.

The rising number of AoN applications from both rural and outer metropolitan areas has provided a great deal of concern and debate for both the NSW Regional and the NSW ASA Committee of Management. Frustration exists because of the seeming hair-trigger readiness of some administrators to go to AoN to solve recruitment difficulties, rather than to confront and solve workforce issues that hinder local applicants for this growing number of positions. The NSW Department of Health, on occasions, does ask NSW Regional Committee our views regarding the assessment stage of an AoN declaration. (In most other states the Health Departments do not do this). A strong case can be made for ASA involvement at this early stage to consider local issues that might be hindering local appointments. Once this assessment/declaration stage has been finalized the role of ANZCA becomes much clearer in the credentialing and ongoing review of overseas trained specialists filling these AoN positions.

Approaches have been made by both the NSW Regional Committee and the ASA to the NSW Department of Health to review these concerns, with only mixed success. The Federal Department of Health and Ageing is looking at major changes to the AoN process and the immediate Past President, Dr Richard Willis, has attended several workshops (see reports in previous Bulletins). A final working paper is expected shortly, but whether this improves or clouds the issues we will have to wait and see.

On to other matters: The Revised FANZCA program raised a multitude of issues for the NSW Regional Committee and the Directors of the major NSW hospitals' training programs. Much forthright and direct discussions occurred with the College Council. Some compromises were reached and I would like to acknowledge the particular contributions of Dr Richard Willis and Professor Michael Cousins in this regard. However, an uneasy anticipation of impending access block to subspeciality modules in the years to come remains with many of us in NSW. It must be said however, that the introduction of the Revised FANZCA since January this year has been fairly painless - so far!

Other activities of the NSW Regional Committee members include oversight of Overseas Trained Specialists from across the state and outer metropolitan Sydney, active involvement in NSW Health Department committees, including the Committee of College Chairman, Medical Training and Education Committee (MTEC), Area of Need Working Parties, to name a few.

On the education front, the Part II Long Course has been totally overhauled to encompass modern techniques and problem-based learning with a high input expected from participants. Drs Tim McCulloch, Tracey Tay, Mark Priestley & Michael Rose have made an outstanding contribution and some radical changes. In addition, the Long Courses now take place at ANZCA NSW in Crows Nest. The facility exists for videoconferencing of these sessions so participation can be maintained for trainees on rural rotations.

On behalf of all NSW Fellows I would like to thank all members of the NSW Regional Committee (and our Administrator Jan Taylor) for their time and efforts over the last 12 months.

Dr Michael Jones,Chairman