News
AHPRA takes steps to reassure practitioners who receive a notification
GPs are identified as a major source of help in a new AHPRA video aimed at reducing notification-induced anxiety.
AHPRA has encouraged health professionals to seek help if they are stressed by receiving a notification.
The video features testimony from Far North Queensland GP Dr Catriona Arnold-Nott, who describes the anxiety she felt after receiving an Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) notification in 2017.
Dr Arnold-Nott said the drawn-out process was ‘very painful’ and stressful, especially when she didn’t hear anything from AHPRA for extended periods of time. However, she believes she would have dealt with it better had she asked for help.
‘If there was one thing I could do differently … I would go and talk to someone right at the beginning, because then I would have known I wasn’t alone,’ Dr Arnold-Nott said.
‘What I know now is that AHPRA manages complaints on a triaging basis in the same way we as health professionals do – and that is that the most serious things get dealt with first.
‘I wish I’d known that then, because I would have been worried less. The fact that it was taking such a long time should have been reassuring, but for me it just increased my anxiety.’
The stress became so much that Dr Arnold-Nott would cry every morning before work and second guess clinical judgements she was making throughout the day. Concerns about losing her ability to practise added to Dr Arnold-Nott’s apprehension about seeking professional help.
‘All the time that this was happening, I knew I wasn’t well,’ she said.
‘[But] I was afraid that I would be notified as being an unsafe practitioner, because now I was depressed. That fear kept me from seeking help when I knew I needed it.
‘As health practitioners we’re at increased risk of suicide and this is a time when that risk is even higher.’
Medical Board of Australia Chair Dr Anne Tonkin said the video reminds practitioners that, while potentially daunting, receiving support early in the process can make a big difference.
‘We hear again and again about the fear [practitioners] feel when they receive a letter from AHPRA,’ she said.
‘Yes, a letter can mean someone has raised a concern about their practice, but it doesn’t mean that their career is over. Many health practitioners may at some stage have a concern raised about them to AHPRA, their employer or another health complaints organisation.
‘We understand this can be a daunting experience. We encourage all practitioners to seek the support they need to be healthy at all times – and this is particularly important during a notification.’
Dr Arnold-Nott eventually saw her GP when she realised she was still spending a large amount of time thinking about the notification, despite the fact the process had run its course.
‘It’s completely normal for a notification like this to make health practitioners feel completely miserable. Angry, frustrated, anxious depressed – these are all normal responses to getting an AHPRA notification,’ she said.
‘When I went and saw my GP at last and [told] him the story of that 12-month period, [it] was so relieving for me and allowed me to clear it all out of my head.
‘Talking to my GP was intensely therapeutic.’
AHPRA mental health notification
newsGP weekly poll
What is your chief concern with role substitution?