The Importance of Doing an AHPRA Search on any Medical Specialist or Allied Health Practitioner You Plan to See

Hi,

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I hope that your January has been pleasant and that you enjoyed some time off to relax and have returned to work refreshed and ready to hit the ground running.

2024 was a jam-packed year for MAG. I feel so proud not only for myself and my team, but also for what our company as a whole has managed to accomplish in the last 12 months. I’m hoping to continue this trend of growth into 2025.

I know I’ve said it a thousand times, but I wanted to take another moment to thank each and every one of you, as without you this would not be possible at all.

First of all, I just wanted to share the statistics for our Medical Negligence Triage Service from December as well as 2024 as a whole.

In December there were 50 Medical Negligence Triage Cases lodged through our service!

Out of those 50 cases, 25 of them requested Free Preliminary Opinions, there were a total of 14 Teleconferences that took place and 16 Triage cases proceeded to a dull report! We're still working on a majority of the requests received last month and will continue to do so until the desired outcome is provided.

8 out of the 25 Free Preliminary Opinions requested received a “negligence not probable” response from the specialist and did not proceed any further.

In 2024 there were 624 Medical Negligence Triage Cases lodged through our service! Out of those 624 cases, 341 of them requested Free Preliminary Opinions, 250 of them proceeded to teleconferences, 118 of them proceeded to a full report.

128 out of the 341 Free Preliminary Opinions requested received a “negligence not probable” response from the specialist and did not proceed any further.

We are happy to have been able to provide the plaintiffs with the closure they need as well as helping them avoid the emotional and financial burden of proceeding straight to a report, only to receive an unfavourable/unsupportive opinion.

This month's topic is The Importance of Doing an AHPRA Search on any medical Specialist or Allied Health Practitioner You Plan to See.

AHPRA is the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, and any practicing medical specialist, nurse or other allied health practitioner in Australia requires an AHPRA registration in order to clinically practice. AHPRA’s primary role is to protect the public by ensuring that registered health practitioners are trained, qualified, and safe to practice. AHPRA works with 15 National Boards, each representing a health profession.?The Boards register practitioners and students, and set standards and policies for their professions.

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Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each State and Territory, there is a range of registration categories under which a doctor can practise medicine in Australia. Different categories apply to different types of registration.

Categories of medical registration are:

• General registration?
• Specialist registration?
• Provisional registration?
• Limited registration?
• Non-practising registration?

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The main difference between General Medical Registration and Specialist Registration is that General Registration allows practitioners to practice medicine in Australia, while Specialist Registration allows practitioners to practice independently in a specific area of medicine, for example, Orthopaedic Surgery.

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• General Registration

Allows practitioners to practice medicine in Australia after completing an accredited medical degree and a period of supervised practice. This does not mean General Practitioner or GP, that is actually a medical specialty.

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• Specialist Registration

Allows practitioners to practice independently in a specific area of medicine after completing advanced training and qualifications, then meeting additional standards.?Specialist registration is often required for roles in hospitals, clinics, and private practice. Practitioners with specialist registration have a specific scope of practice, which is limited to their specialty.?For example, an Orthopaedic Surgeon cannot take out an inflamed appendix.

Practitioners who qualified overseas and do not hold an approved undergraduate or entry level qualification may only hold Specialist Registration.?

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·??????? Provisional Registration

Applies to people who are qualified for general registration and who are also required to complete a period of approved supervised practice in Australia before becoming eligible for general registration.

This generally occurs when an AHPRA registered medical practitioner has a condition on their registration. This means that a formal complaint has been lodged against the practitioner. Conditions are specific to the issue that has been identified, or to the risk to public safety that the AHPRA Board thinks needs to be managed.

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Some of the common types of conditions for health concerns include:

• requirements to see a treating practitioner, such as a general practitioner, a psychiatrist or psychologist.
• drug and alcohol screening.
• limits on work hours or supervision requirements.
• prescribing restrictions.

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Some of the common types of conditions for performance concerns include:

• requirement to undertake education or training.
• supervision or mentoring by another practitioner.
• limiting scope of practice or the types of procedures.
• requiring periodic reporting on practice.

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Some of the common types of conditions for conduct concerns include:

• supervision requirements.
• education and training requirements, including communication skills.
• limiting scope of practice or the types of procedures.
• requiring periodic reporting on practice.
• submitting to a practice audit or inspection.

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Any member of the public can access AHPRA’s website to do a deep dive into any medical specialists that they have been referred to, to see if there are any conditions restricting their registration, or if they are even registered at all!? This ensures that people can make informed decisions about the specialists they will accept treatment from.

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In a few medical negligence cases, we’ve seen people who had restrictions, or were not registered in that specialist field, or registered to practice medicine in Australia at all and were still providing treatment to plaintiffs resulting in poor outcomes which leads to medical negligence claims.

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You can’t sue for medical negligence if the person isn’t a registered medical practitioner.

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When more people know about how to do an AHPRA search, unscrupulous practitioners will be less able to practice.? Since working in this industry, I have certainly learned to use AHPRA to search any medical practitioners I’ll be engaging for treatment to ensure that they’re the right fit for me. It’s such a great tool that puts the control back into the hands of the average citizen.

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For anyone not in the know you can visit: https://www.ahpra.gov.au/ and click the big purple “Look up a practitioner” button in the top right corner to get searching.

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In other exciting news our January 2025 Medical Negligence Specialist Directory has now launched! Please do not hesitate to DM or email me if you would like a digital copy!

Spotlight on our Medical Negligence Specialists

Dr Tim Ho is a rehabilitation and pain specialist. He works in a work capacity centre and addiction medicine. His interests are chronic musculoskeletal pain, neuropathic pain, visceral pain and headache. He is able to comment on the use of medicinal marijuana for pain management. Dr Ho is also fluent in Mandarin and Taiwanese.

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Dr Christian Van Nieuwenhuysen?is a leading anaesthetist with recognised expertise in peri-operative critical event investigations, particularly adverse drug reactions. He operates the Queensland Anaesthetic Reaction Clinic, a renowned subspecialty clinic that receives referrals from a diverse range of specialties, including anaesthetists, general practitioners, surgeons, and dentists.

Regarded throughout Queensland as an expert in complex peri-operative cases. His areas of special interest include peripheral nerve blocks (and associated nerve injuries), peri-operative drug reactions (including anaphylaxis and allergy testing), accidental awareness under general anaesthesia, and intra-operative crisis management. He also provides expert anaesthetic care across a wide range of surgical fields, such as gynaecological, plastic, orthopaedic, urological, and general surgeries.

Whether you need expert analysis of an adverse peri-operative outcome or testimony in a legal context, Dr. Van Nieuwenhuysen offers authoritative, evidence-based insights to support your case.

Dr Cameron Ward, after completing his training was appointed as Assistant Professor to the Variety Children's Heart Centre Winnipeg, Canada where he worked for eighteen months prior to returning to Australia to a joint appointment at the Mater Children's Hospital and The Prince Charles Hospital in Brisbane.?

He established the cardiac service at the Mater Children's Hospital along with the foetal cardiac service at the Mater Mother's Hospital and jointly established the paediatric cardiac interventional service at the Prince Charles Hospital.? He also undertook a number of trips to Fiji in conjunction with Operation Open Heart.?

He is currently employed full-time at the Queensland Children's Hospital and is Director of the Cardiac Catheterisation Laboratory.? In addition to interventional cardiac catheterisation, he also has a special interest in foetal cardiology.

Please do not hesitate to contact me with any queries, questions or concerns?via my direct line or email address.

Kind regards,

Taylah McGregor

Medical Negligence Lead & NSW Business Development

Direct Line: (02) 9056 4471

[email protected]

Medical Negligence Bookings & Queries: (02) 8090 7616

[email protected]

Don’t forget to connect with me on LinkedIn

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MedicoLegal Assessments Group Pty Ltd

ABN?47 613 189 049

Suite 507,?83 York Street,?Sydney NSW 2000

Phone:?02 8090 7611 |?Fax:?02 8090 7610