Mandatory reporting of health practitioners - notifiable conduct

Case histories are based on actual medical negligence claims or medicolegal referrals; however certain facts have been omitted or changed by the author to ensure the anonymity of the parties involved. On 26 March 2008, the Council of Australian Governments signed an Intergovernmental Agreement for a National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for the Health Professions. The new scheme is scheduled to be introduced on 1 July 2010. As part of the scheme all registered health practitioners will be legally required to report any other registered health practitioner who has behaved in a manner that constitutes 'notifiable conduct'. The threshold to be met to trigger the requirement to report notifiable conduct in relation to a practitioner is high, and the practitioner or employer must have first formed a 'reasonable belief' that the behaviour constitutes notifiable conduct. This article discusses this new legislation, the circumstances in which a colleague's conduct must be reported and how a notification should be made.