News

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Regulation complexity review ‘long overdue’

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The regulators of Australia’s healthcare system will be put under the microscope, with a new investigation launching to create more streamlined, fair, and fit-for-purpose medical watchdogs.
 
The Health Chief Executives’ Forum (HCEF) has announced an examination of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, known as the Complexity Review, in the wake of rising concern over the nation’s regulatory systems and processes.
 
Its aim is to ensure the Scheme is consistent in its decision making and has an efficient complaints management and disciplinary process. It will also consider the appropriateness of entry criteria for new professions.
 
RACGP Vice President Associate Professor Michael Clements told newsGP the investigation is ‘long overdue’.
 
‘Our members and our practice owners are certainly hoping that the outcome of the review will mean less paperwork, less waiting time, and more commonsense when dealing with a lot of these procedural issues,’ he said.
 
‘The RACGP has a really important voice because we will share the members’ concerns and voices and their experience.
 
‘We, as a college who set the standards, who maintain and watch the CPD, and work with our members, have an opportunity here to reassure the regulators and we have a role in guiding them to best practice and reassuring them about things like peer opinion and what’s normal and what’s not.’
 
Specifically, the Complexity Review’s terms of reference are to:

• identify options to streamline decision-making by existing regulatory bodies to improve consistency
• deliver consumer-driven, accessible, and efficient complaints management and disciplinary processes
• examine how regulatory decisions are considered by civil and administrative tribunals in each jurisdiction
• review current regulatory performance principles to ensure they align with Scheme objectives
• consider whether entry criteria as specified in the Intergovernmental Agreement for a National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for the Health Professions are still fit for purpose
• consider whether Health Ministers have sufficient powers to direct entities exercising accreditation functions.

The review comes after regulatory processes continue to be a major source of stress for GPs, despite recent promises from the health watchdog, AHPRA, to make ‘major regulatory reforms’.
 
Recent data revealed the anxiety felt by practitioners when receiving an AHPRA notification.

Additionally, a separate survey found doctors have the most negative view of AHPRA of any health practitioner group in Australia, with just 35% of medical practitioners having a positive view of the regulator.
 
Associate Professor Clements said he is hoping for an overhaul of this complaints process which is currently creating a sense of ‘anxiety and nervousness’ among GPs.
 
‘I’ve personally seen colleagues dealing with this process who don’t sleep. They’re worrying about their financial security, they’re worried about their professional security, and we know that the absolute majority of complaints lead to no action,’ he said.
 
‘We’re certainly hoping that complaints management and investigations will be fairer and more responsive for people who are under investigation, and an acknowledgement of the stress and harm that it can cause.
 
‘Several members are concerned that the compliance process seems to favour the complainant and it puts the person under investigation in an untenable position of having very little within their control to help speed up the process.’
 
The Complexity Review will also examine processes in the wake of the recent Kruk Report which placed a spotlight on the complexities facing international medical graduates (IMGs) wanting to work in Australia.
 
Associate Professor Clements has personally experienced these difficulties and the red tape associated with hiring an IMG.
 
‘The amount of paperwork, the amount of questions, the repetition in each of the forms, the number of different forms each requiring essentially the same information in a slightly different way – there are so many hurdles,’ he said.
 
AHPRA Chief Executive Martin Fletcher welcomed the review and said moves to make health regulation more straightforward will benefit both the public and practitioners.
 
‘Australia’s health regulatory system has many moving parts, with a range of agencies and decision-makers which can make it difficult to navigate for consumers,’ he said.
 
‘AHPRA and the National Boards look forward to working with other stakeholders to reduce the complexity and help make the system simpler and better for consumers.’
 
Former New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commissioner Sue Dawson was appointed as the Independent Reviewer to lead the investigation.
 
The Complexity Review is expected to be handed down by the end of this year.
 
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AHPRA Kruk Report

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