
Dear Colleagues,
I hope those of you on the eastern seaboard are high and dry and that your communities are coping with the recent climatic events. Between this and the forthcoming election, getting the attention of government will be more problematic however the election offers both opportunity as well as distraction.
There is a lot going on. See below for updates on:
- Indexation
- Theranostics
- Member portal
- Member Survey
- Member Dinner
- Lutetium PSMA Application
- MBS Telehealth
- RACP Core training
- Social Media
- ProsTIC Preceptorship
Indexation Campaign

We are pushing ahead with our indexation campaign full steam. As the membership is aware we have engaged the consultancy of CMAX Advisory and they have been extremely helpful in getting access to our politicians and in providing sage advice on how best to prosecute our case.
We have submitted a Pre-Budget submission to Treasury in January; have written and publicised a Position Paper on indexation and have met with the following politicians to date:
- Minister for Health and Ageing – Minister Hunt’s office
- Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia – Minister Keith Pitt’s office
- Deputy shadow Minister for Health and Aging – Ged Kearney
- Senator Peta Murphy
Our General Manager attended a Press Club dinner hosted by CMAX, with Senator Peta Murphy and Shadow Defence Minister Brendan O’Connor in November 2021.
We have the following meetings organised for March:
- Our President will have a lunch with Mark Butler, Shadow Minister for Health & Ageing, and Peta Murphy this month – only four people are attending this lunch
- Our Vice President will attend a CMAX dinner with both Mark Butler and Peta Murphy
- The President and General Manager will attend a meeting with Dr Mike Freelander
We are also awaiting responses for other meetings.
Together with CMAX, we ran an online workshop for members on 22 February on “How to Engage Your Local Federal Member”. This workshop has been recorded and is now available, with the supporting materials, on the newly updated Member Portal on our website – https://aanms.org.au.
As we discussed in the workshop, the more federal MPs know about the lack of indexation and our campaign for change, the more likely we are to get traction. If you are interested in lobbying your local federal MP, please have a look at the resources available on the Member Portal and contact Lisa Maddocks our General Manager on gm@aanms.org.au or 0418 874 652. Lisa is the most up-to-date as to whom we have spoken to and where we are with the campaign and will help you with your approach.
Theranostics Committee
Thank you to all members who expressed interest in participating on the AANMS Theranostics Committee; the response was overwhelming. We have finalised most appointments and held our inaugural meeting, 25 February 2022. Our committee consists of twelve members across as follows:
- One AANMS Board member (and Chair of the committee)
- Three AANMS Fellows
- Two ANZSNM members
- One RACP representative – pending nominee
- One RANZCR representative – pending nominee
- One CJCT representative
- One medical researcher with theranostic research experience
- One Aotearoa New Zealand representative
- One consumer representative
- Trusted advisors from ANSTO and Department of Health as required
- AANMS Theranostics Course Convenor
- AANMS Secretariat
In addition, we are looking forward to developing a world class theranostics course under the guidance of the AANMS Theranostics Course & Case Library sub-committee, that has also held its inaugural meeting recently. It is intended that the first AANMS Theranostics Course will be held later this year, and will be open to all interested members and trainees
Theranostics Training and Grandfathering
In conjunction with the Committee for Joint College Training in Nuclear Medicine (CJCT), and as part of a review of our AANMS Theranostics Position Paper, published last year, we have drafted proposals for grandfathering for those with existing theranostics expertise and also for the eventual introduction of prospective theranostics training as part of the Nuclear Medicine Advanced Training Program (proposed to be introduced with the 2025-2026 Program Requirements Handbook). The draft proposals are currently under consideration by the Theranostics Committee, prior to submission to the RACP (as the college managing advanced training).
Member Portal
We have been continuing work on our website and have another updated release for the Member Portal.
Along with the political campaign information there is a new section on Position Papers and Submissions, and a History of Nuclear Medicine section, written and compiled by some of our longest serving Fellows.
Any feedback on the website will be gratefully received.
Member Survey
Our next member survey will be released in the next couple of months, with the emphasis on capturing workforce data. As our membership is housed within two colleges, we thought it prudent to compile our own set of numbers – watch this space.
ANZSNM ASM and AANMS Dinner

The ANZSNM conference is planned for Brisbane over 13 – 15 May 2022. Don’t forget to register this month – earlybird registration closes on 31 March.
We have finalised our Fellows Dinner at the ASM this year and look forward to seeing as many members attend as possible.
The details of the AANMS Dinner are:
- Date Friday 13 May 2022
- Location: Watermall at the Queensland Art Gallery
- Time: 7.00pm for 7.30pm gallery viewing* followed by 8.00pm Dinner
- Price: $140.00 for 3 courses including drinks and canapés
- Dress: Smart casual
*The gallery viewing will be a half-hour (7.30pm – 8.00pm) self-paced viewing of the artworks in the adjacent galleries; guests return to the Watermall space by 8.00pm for dinner service.
Lutetium PSMA – MSAC Application 1686
This continues to work its way through the system. We have submitted the assessment report for Evaluation Sub-Committee (ESC) consideration in March and for MSAC consideration in April.
MBS Telehealth changes
The AANMS was involved in a Specialty Society campaign to lobby the Federal Government to reverse its decision to cease the temporary COVID telehealth arrangements that were in place until December 2021. On 16 January the Government announced that it would reintroduce/temporarily reinstate some services until 30 June 2022, and would permanently add other telehealth items to MBS and permanently cease others.
Inclusion of Nuclear Medicine in RACP Basic Physician Training
Our discussions with the RACP to have a nuclear medicine rotation for Basic Physician Trainees included as part of the core BPT program remain positive and we have had two meetings with them since my last update.
We have an agreed way forward and are working on putting together some refined information for the Basic Training Committee’s review at its April meeting. We are hoping this will translate into a satisfactory outcome.
Social Media
A key ingredient to our campaigning is our social media platforms.
We have two twitter accounts – “AANMS” and “Theranostics AANMS” and well as our LinkedIn account.
We now have almost 700 Twitter followers. If you are on either Twitter or LinkedIn please take the time to find, like and share the pre-budget submission information and our Position Paper on Indexation, and ensure you ‘follow’ us on Twitter and send invitations to connect with us on LinkedIn.
All of the likes, shares and retweets help.
Supply Shortages
We have been in discussion with Department of Health since December on the issue of Tl-201 and Ga67 shortages.
The Department’s focus is more on TI-201 and we are currently consulting on an alternative. They are not as ready to sign off on a Ga67 replacement as it is available intermittently.
We will continue our push for both and keep our membership informed.
ProsTIC PSMA Preceptorship

A reminder – the ProsTIC “How We Do PSMA Theranostics” intensive teaching preceptorship will be held over 1 – 2 April 2022, at the Sofitel Melbourne hotel. Registration is available for either in-person or virtual attendance.
For more information, please visit: https://prosticpreceptorship2022.org/