AusPATH: Activism influencing health policy

Abstract

Objective: To consider the role of AusPATH and its position statements on health policy in Australia. Conclusions: As a consequence of a membership policy which admits members with lived experience as health experts, AusPATH functions as an activist organisation whilst claiming to be a professional association. There is no accreditation or endorsement underpinning AusPATH’s influence on health policy in Australia. Its role as an activist organisation is demonstrated by a lack of caution in its position statements, which are misleading in circumstances where accurate information has been long available. The considerable influence of AusPATH on health policy in Australia needs to be reconsidered, as well as RANZCP Position Statement 62 which provides insufficient guidance upon balancing research and clinical knowledge, as well as medical ethics, with voices of lived experience.