Medico sexual misconduct history public for more than a decade

Health professionals will have their sexual misconduct history dating back more than a decade displayed publicly under major law changes designed to keep patients safe.

The sexual misconduct history of health professionals will be public for more than a decade.

Health professionals will have their sexual misconduct history dating back more than a decade displayed publicly under major law changes designed to keep patients safe.

Queensland will lead the charge in pushing through the national laws, sparked by a doubling of sexual misconduct allegations made against health practitioners over three years.

The laws will also further protect people who make complaints against health professionals to official bodies, making it an offence to threaten or intimidate whistleblowers.

Under the changes health practitioners, including doctors, dentists, paramedics, and nurses, previously found to have engaged in sexual misconduct in the workplace by their respective national boards will have their histories published publicly.

The published histories will date back to 2010 — when the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) was first established.

A staggering 841 allegations of sexual misconduct were made against health practitioners in 2022/23 — a 223 per cent increase compared to the three years prior.

As it stands national boards have to publish active disciplinary sanctions on AHPRA’s public register, but this is removed once the imposed punishment expires.

It means patients would not know if their health practitioner had a history of professional sexual misconduct.

The laws were signed off by Australia’s health ministers earlier in the year and were originally introduced in the final sitting weeks of the last government.

Health Minister Tim Nicholls reintroduced the laws on Thursday.

“Sexual misconduct by any health practitioner damages community confidence in the safety of services provided by all practitioners,” he said.

“It is also important to emphasise that the vast majority of health practitioners honour the trust placed in them by providing safe, competent and ethical care.

“Unfortunately, however, there are some practitioners who engage in professional misconduct, which can have devastating effects on victims and reduce public confidence in the safety of our health services.”

Under the changes it would also become an offence to threaten or intimidate someone who makes a complaint, including any act to hurt their employment.

It will also become a crime for a health service or practitioner to use nondisclosure agreements to stop or dissuade patients from reporting misconduct.

The laws will also make the process of regaining registration as a health practitioner after a cancellation or temporary disqualification consistent across states and territories.

“By addressing serious sexual misconduct and strengthening protections for those who speak out, we are sending a clear message: unethical or harmful behaviour will not be tolerated in our health system,” Mr Nicholls said.