Members are provided with an overview of the recent workshop held between the AMA and Ahpra.
Senior AMA representatives met with senior staff from Ahpra for the annual notification workshop last week. The purpose of these workshops is to discuss trends in notifications and Ahpra's handling of them.
Ahpra provided an overview of current data and emerging trends. Concerningly, there has been a 22 per cent increase in notifications about medical practitioners, with the majority of complaints originating from patients. Victoria received the highest percentage increase, although most concerns in the state were deemed low risk.
Across the medical professions, the vast majority of notifications continue to lead to no action:
- 93.3 per cent of notifications led to no action.
- 3.9 per cent resulted in some form of action.
- 2.8 per cent were referred to a panel or tribunal.
We also raised the findings of the recent National Health Practitioner Ombudsmen review of the vexatious notifications framework. While the introduction of the framework was a positive step, its limited application remains a serious concern for the AMA. We committed to continue working with Ahpra to ensure vexatious notifications are not used as weapons against doctors. In the current financial year, the vexatious framework was applied to 44 cases, with the Medical Board identifying 13 notifications as vexatious.
We also discussed data on notifications against IMGs, noting the general data does not provide enough information to target responses and support the cohort. Ahpra stated that 40 per cent of notifications involved IMGs but were unable to provide more specific details.
We will meet with Ahpra and the Medical Board again later in the year as part of our regular engagement with the regulator. We will continue to strongly advocate on your behalf for a fairer National Law that ensures our wellbeing is their priority too.
