The urgent need for regulatory reform was addressed by eminent medical professionals at the proactive HPARA annual conference. Professor Paddy Dewan reports.
My own presentation, on ‘Attribution Error‘, fitted with the mood of the day and echoed a review of the 2014 AHPRA report from the Victorian Legislative Council by David O’Brien, which showed a lack of national regulator accountability and transparency. David’s conclusions matched the unsavoury fact that the national regulator can – and on four occasions did – take action against a practitioner without there having been an adverse event for any of the four patients.
One was taken because of making a phone call to a parent — a call encouraged by the Victorian Medical Board CEO. The other three, related to single cases, in which no significant adverse event occurred but for which the regulator called for deregistration, seemed to cause public harm through unreasonable behaviour toward a healthcare professional while others go inadequately checked.
“Attribution error” refers to the blaming of an individual when the problem is the system — also described as “shooting the messenger”. Three threats of loss of fellowship for having questioned the performance and professionalism of others, aligned with AHPRA dysfunction, were also conveyed to the audience. This dysfunction was evident in the story presented by Gary Fettke, who, for giving dietary advice, is being subjected to a process that risks his being unable to perform orthopaedic surgery, was a further point conveyed to the audience.
Obviously, we need reform.
Professor Paddy Dewan’s training in Medicine, Surgery and Paediatric Urology has seen him employed in Melbourne, Dunedin, Dublin, London and the USA. Returning to Australia, he initially took up a position in Adelaide, both as a clinician and researcher in Paediatric Urology. He has renamed congenital urethral obstruction (COPUM), developed new approaches to the management of anorectal anomalies, especially the megarectum (Rectal Ectasia), and has written a number of landmark papers on the use of plastics in medicine and bladder enlargement without the bowel lining (Augmentation). Professor Dewan has been hounded by the Australian Medical Board since 2006 over a patient procedure that had no negative outcomes — and has now finally been dropped.