A focus on uncovering and acting on sexual misconduct and harassment in healthcare has helped hundreds more people to come forward.
In 2022-23, 841 complaints were received about boundary violations by 728 registered health practitioners, a 223% increase from before the pandemic which represents a growing trend of patients reporting inappropriate behaviour, assisted by Ahpra’s appointment of 10 new FT staff to its specialist investigations team to meet this demand.
Ahpra introduced new concern types as part of wider measures to condemn and stamp out sexism, sexual harassment and gendered violence in health care and this year’s number of complaints was an improvement on the record 925 notifications received last year.
There were 359 complaints made against GPs (a decrease of almost 40 notifications from 2021), 215 against nurses, 120 psychologists and 33 against physiotherapists. Complaints ranged from inappropriate or sexualised remarks, intimate touching without consent, personal relationships where there was an imbalance of power, to aggressive sexual, criminal offending.
A record 114 healthcare professionals referred to independent tribunals for disciplinary action and a further 239 resulted in regulatory actions such as restricted practice, education, or cautions.
WA health-care professionals recorded the fourth highest number of boundary notifications with 148 compared to 323 in Victoria.
“While it’s distressing to hear about any case of sexual misconduct in the health system, it’s even more devastating if these incidents go unreported,” Ahpra CEO, Mr Martin Fletcher said.
“Greater reporting provides greater opportunity to act. When we are told of instances where practitioners are failing to behave ethically and professionally, we have opportunities to respond.
“Increasing the number of team members dealing with these matters means we can reduce investigation times and reach an outcome quicker.”
Ahpra has also expanded its social worker-led Notifier Support Service (NSS) which provides support to victims and survivors and offers help to navigate the regulatory and tribunal process. The NSS pilot received 278 referrals since it started in September 2021.
One of Ahpra’s specialist investigators noted that the changes had been about creating “a safe place for patients to tell these stories.”
“Some of them are hard to hear, but all are important to report – big and small matters,” an investigator said.
“We recently had a victim share their story about an incident that occurred in the 1980s. It had been so significant for them that they hadn’t shared it with their partner at the time, and for them, it was an opportunity to have their story heard and to be assured that the practitioner was no longer practising.”
Other relevant work under way includes strengthening the referral process to speed up time from conviction for a criminal offence to referral to a tribunal, developing greater resources for patients and practitioners on the informed consent process during a consultation, and working to ensure investigations are trauma informed and nationally consistent.
However, Mr Fletcher said it was important to point out that more than 850,000 health practitioners were registered in Australia and fewer than 2% had received a notification relating to their practice or behaviour for any reasons each year.