Mandatory Reporting Obligations

Medical practitioners are obliged to make mandatory notifications under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law 2009 (NSW) (National Law) about medical practitioners and other registered health professionals when their health, conduct or performance poses a risk to the public.

Changes to the National Law come into effect in March this year. The changes mean more limited mandatory reporting obligations for treating medical practitioners. The rationale for the amendments is to ensure medical practitioners and other health professionals seek care and treatment without fear of a mandatory notification.

Treating medical and other health practitioners will be required to report practitioners about whom they form a reasonable belief:

• Are practising with an impairment and place the public at substantial risk of harm;
• Are practising while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs and place the public at substantial risk of harm;
• Are practising in a way that significantly departs from accepted professional standards and place the public at substantial risk of harm;
• Have engaged in, are engaging in, or might engage in, sexual misconduct in connection with their practise of medicine.

Some key matters to keep in mind in relation to mandatory reporting by treating practitioners:

• Before any practitioner is required to make a mandatory notification, they must form a reasonable belief that the conduct has occurred. This will usually require a practitioner to have direct knowledge about the incident or behaviour in question.
• A health condition and impairment are not the same thing. An illness or condition that does not, or is not likely to, have a detrimental impact on a practitioner’s capacity to practise is not an impairment.
• There is not a need to notify if there are effective controls to manage the impairment and reduce the risk and severity of harm to the public, such as:
  • treatment
  • a break from practice
  • changes to scope of practice
  • compliance with monitoring and supervision
• A substantial risk of harm to the public is a very high threshold for reporting practitioners with an impairment, practising while intoxicated or significantly departing from accepted professional standards. The risk of harm is to be assessed by having regard to factors including circumstance, practice context, and controls such as oversight and incident reporting, insight and self-reflection, engagement with treatment.
• Reports concerning significant departures from accepted professional standards may be difficult for a treating doctor to assess. It is more likely that notifications about such matters will be made by practitioners who work with the practitioner concerned.

Mandatory reporting requirements for medical and other health practitioners (other than treating practitioners) will continue. That is, if they form a reasonable belief that a practitioner is:

• Practising with an impairment and place the public at risk of harm;
• Practising while intoxicated by alcohol or drugs;
• Significantly departing from professional standards and place the public at risk of harm;
• Engaging in sexual misconduct in connection with their practise of medicine.

To help practitioners understand the changes, AHPRA and the National Boards have developed new resources. You can access these new resources on AHPRA’s website. The resources include an advanced copy of the revised Guidelines: Mandatory Notifications About Registered Health Practitioners dated March 2020.

If you are concerned about your health, the health of a colleague or a family member who is a medical practitioner, you can contact the Doctors Health Advisory Service (DHAS) on NSW Helpline 02 9437 6552 (www.dhas.org.au). DHAS offers independent and confidential advice for doctors and medical students on a range of issues.