AHPRA Publishes Guides on Handling Complaints

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has published new guides for health practitioners and the community about how notifications are managed in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme).
The Guide for practitioners and a series of information sheets aim to explain what happens when AHPRA receives a notification on behalf of a National Board. The information complements the direct correspondence individuals receive if a notification is made about them.
AHPRA has also developed a guide for the community about making a complaint (or notification) about a health practitioner. This guide for people raising a concern will be a focus of review by the newly-established Community Reference Group for AHPRA and the National Boards.
AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said AHPRA developed the practitioners’ guide to clearly explain what happens after a concern has been raised about a health practitioner. “It explains who decides what happens, how we work with health complaints entities and what practitioners can expect from our processes.
‘Most of the 580,000 practitioners registered in the National Scheme are highly skilled and deeply committed to providing safe care, and it can be very confronting for them to be the subject of a notification,’ Mr Fletcher said. ‘Our job is to work with National Boards to protect the public. “We recognise that being the subject of a notification is stressful for a health practitioner. “That is why providing a clear explanation about how notifications are managed is so important,’ he said.
Medical Board of Australia Chair, Dr Joanna Flynn AM, said it was important that practitioners about whom concerns had been raised had clear information, so they could focus on the issues they needed to consider about their professional practice and not be confused about the regulatory process.
‘Registered practitioners have a responsibility to provide an explanation to the regulator when concerns have been raised, and we want them to be able to do so from an informed position,’ Dr Flynn said.
The guides are available on the AHPRA website