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Queensland Parliament recommends passing mandatory reporting legislation
The RACGP is extremely disappointed in the decision, which flies in the face of the college’s advocacy on the issue and multiple submissions from the medical community.
Processes for laws such as this mean the Queensland bill will direct all other state and territory laws.
The Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee (the Committee) has presented its final report on The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2018 (the Bill), recommending no significant changes to the mandatory reporting laws for medical practitioners.
This decision comes despite strong advocacy from the RACGP and a number of other healthcare bodies – including the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, the Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine and the Australian Medical Association – to make practitioners exempt from reporting doctors under their own care, in line with the model followed in Western Australia.
‘It’s an unfortunate decision,’ Dr Bruce Willett, Chair of RACGP Queensland, told newsGP.
‘I think it creates the problem it’s trying to solve.’
The RACGP provided advice to the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council in August last year, stating that the proposed amendments to mandatory reporting laws were not enough to remove the barriers for doctors seeking care.
‘The problem is that mandatory reporting legislation is very complex and [clinicians] feel they can’t afford to take the risk of not reporting everyone who presents with anything that could be possibly related to an impairment,’ Dr Willett said.
‘And a lot of health professionals, not just doctors – we’re also talking about nurses and physios and others – are being reported where they don’t need to be because their treating clinicians feel under a great deal of pressure.’
The RACGP voiced its concerns in an October consultation submission for the Bill, describing changes to mandatory reporting as ‘essential’.
‘The current reporting laws create a barrier for health practitioners to be open and honest about their health conditions, for fear this information may be divulged in the mandatory reporting process,’ the submission states.
‘It is important that practitioners receive the healthcare they need, rather than seek to hide issues through fear of being reported by their treating practitioner. Removing this mandatory reporting requirement, which prevents registered health practitioners from seeking healthcare, will improve patient safety.’
Chair of RACGP Queensland Dr Bruce Willett has called the decision ‘unfortunate’. ‘I think it creates the problem it’s trying to solve,’ he said.
Mandatory reporting of health practitioners by their peers for ‘notifiable conduct’ was first implemented in Australia in 2010, and concerns have mounted that fear of being reported was preventing practitioners experiencing mental health issues from seeking help. These fears have been underlined by a number of suicides among doctors and medical students, as well as growing evidence that anxiety and depression are more prevalent among doctors and medical students than the general population.
The RACGP’s submission outlined the barriers for practitioners who currently wish to seek help, and provided evidence for the success of the WA model. The RACGP also recommended better education about the intent of the law between policy makers and health professionals in order to help practitioners feel more confident about their rights and responsibilities.
Dr Willett would also like to see greater specificity in the wording of the legislation.
‘I would urge the WA solution, or at the very least a change in the wording from “a risk of substantial harm”, to “a substantial risk of substantial harm”,’ Dr Willett said.
It is important to note, however, that the Committee’s decision was not unanimous, with the inclusion of a statement of reservations signed by the Committee’s Deputy Chair, Mark McArdle. The reservations include a recommendation to adopt the WA model of mandatory reporting, excepting in cases of sexual misconduct, as well as an independent review of the implementation of the proposed changes by the COAG health council.
There is a chance that further advocacy against the Bill will be possible in the future, an effort in which the RACGP will be fully involved.
‘There is some indication that the Queensland Opposition will oppose. We would hope that they do, and that they have some support from government members,’ Dr Willett said.
‘The RACGP needs to continue to work with politicians from both sides on this; it will certainly continue to oppose this quite vigorously.
‘It’s a matter of accepting that doctors and nurses are human beings like everybody else, and at times they need help.’
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