Doctors cleared of wrongdoing will no longer have links to tribunal and court decisions publicly listed on the AHPRA website, after the Medical Board of Australia backflips on the controversial policy.
The medical board says it has already erased links to court and tribunal decisions where no adverse findings were made against the doctor.
It’s a win for doctors, who launched a national campaign about the policy introduced this year, claiming that including the links was like a ‘black mark’ against doctors’ names, and was unethical and punitive.
Medical board chair Dr Joanna Flynn says the rethink strikes a “good balance” between transparency and fairness.
The decision means that tribunal cases where adverse findings were made about a doctor will remain on the AHPRA website.
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Medical defence organisation Avant welcomed the change, with chief medical officer Dr Penny Browne commending doctors who were “instrumental” in achieving the victory.
“Health practitioners’ rights, health and wellbeing should not be forgotten, but central to the development of health regulation,” Dr Browne says, adding that Avant had campaigned against the original decision from the outset.
Melbourne radiologist Dr Steel Scott, who launched the online petition last month, which garnered 16,640 signatures, also says it is a fantastic result for the medical community.
“We have proven that as a community, we can take actions which protect our colleagues and the integrity of our profession,” he says, describing the original reform as a “knee-jerk” decision.
“I feel the medical board has really violated the trust of doctors, and more than 16,000 people agreed. In effect it’s a vote of no confidence in their policy-making,” he told Australian Doctor.
‘”The medical board now has a lot of work to do to rebuild that trust.”
But he supported the decision to include links to adverse findings.
“If there has been an adverse finding on a doctor, it’s only fair for these findings to be linked because that is in the best interest of patient care,” he said.
No other health professional group regulated by AHPRA was subject to the policy.
However, the regulator said it was consulting on whether to include links to adverse tribunal findings on all practitioners listed on its website.