Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I present the report of the Community Affairs References Committee on the medical complaints process, together with the Hansard record of proceedings and documents presented to the committee.

Ordered that the report be printed.

I move:

That the Senate take note of the report.

This committee inquiry has received a significant amount of evidence. We focused on two particular areas. We had quite long terms of reference for the inquiry, but we have specifically—and you will see this in the report, Mr Acting Deputy President O'Sullivan—looked at two key areas. The first of those is the specific issue around bullying and harassment in the medical profession in general—and I will come back to that in a minute. During the inquiry we also found some broader, systemic issues in Australia's medical complaints process, which we have also investigated; that is the second area we have looked at in the report. I know my colleagues will be talking further about this. We received evidence about the use of the complaints process to make vexatious claims and to, in effect, bully and harass others in the medical profession, which is deeply concerning. We heard a great deal of evidence that bullying and harassment remains an issue in the medical profession. We heard, in particular from Australian medical students, evidence which caused me deep concern about the fact that the students continue to be bullied. The evidence we received said that—I think it was half of students surveyed who thought that it was part of the process of learning—they thought it was part of the teaching process, which of course it should not be.

We have made six recommendations. Most of those recommendations go to issues around bullying and harassment in the medical profession. Our sixth recommendation relates to the broader systemic issues, which I am sure my colleagues will touch on in their contributions. Because of that issue—and many of those issues went beyond the scope of the current inquiry, and it has raised broader issues about the whole of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law process—we believe that in fact another committee inquiry is needed, with narrower terms of reference that specifically relate to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law process, looking at things like the implementation of the current complaints system under the national law, including the role of AHPRA and the national boards; how the current process is being implemented; and whether the existing regulatory framework established by the national law contains adequate provisions for addressing medical complaints. There are a number of points in the terms of reference, such as the adequacy of the relationship between the bodies that are responsible for handling complaints. There is quite an extensive process that is used for medical complaints. The submitters agree that in general the process is working, but there are enough submissions and concerns raised with us to indicate that there are potentially some issues there that need further investigation.

So the committee has asked that we lodge a motion to refer the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law with the particular points that we feel need further investigation. So I am tabling the motion for a further Senate inquiry by the Community Affairs Reference Committee on that particular issue.

I am aware that we are going to run out of time, so I am going to limit my remarks, but I will take this opportunity to thank those who came forward and shared their personal experiences of bullying and harassment, which is quite personally painful for many people, and the medical practitioners who came forward and shared their concerns. I also send a message out to the individuals who made submissions to the inquiry. They were read. They were taken notice of. This committee was never designed to look at individual cases and come up with an answer, but the submissions have clearly raised issues and made us very deeply aware that there are a lot of concerns with the process and they require further investigation. I just want to put that on the record.

I would also like to put on the record once again our thanks to our secretariat, who have done outstanding work. For those that pay attention to the Community Affairs References Committee, this is the third report we have tabled this week, and that required a lot of work from not only all of the senators but particularly our secretariat. I cannot praise them highly enough. I will cut my comments short there so that others get a chance to comment on this inquiry.

I give notice that on the next day of sitting I shall move:

That the following matter be referred to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee for inquiry and report by 10 May 2017—

Inquiry into the complaints mechanism administered under the Health Practitioners Regulation National Law, with particular reference to:

(a) the implementation of the current complaints system under the National Law, including role of AHPRA and the National Boards;

(b) whether the existing regulatory framework, established by the National Law, contains adequate provision for addressing medical complaints;

(c) the roles of AHPRA, the National Boards and professional organisations—such as the various Colleges—in addressing concerns within the medical profession with the complaints process;

(d) the adequacy of the relationships between those bodies responsible for handling complaints;

(e) whether amendments to the National Law in relation to the complaints handling process are required; and

(f) other improvements that could assist in a fairer, quicker and more effective medical complaints process.