Health ministers will review the way the national health watchdog operates in a bid to stamp out “dangerous and dodgy” practitioners.
Victoria’s Health Minister, Jill Hennessy, urged her federal and interstate counterparts at last week’s Council of Australian Governments (COAG) health council meeting to review the way the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) operates.
Her calls for reform follow the national agency coming under fire last year for taking more than two years to respond to complaints about doctors at the Bacchus Marsh and Melton Regional Hospital.
Ms Hennessy accused AHPRA of failing to do its job after an investigation into stillborn deaths at Bacchus Marsh Hospital found there were 11 preventable baby deaths between 2003 and 2014.
Ms Hennessy made a number of recommendations at COAG, including expanding the range of actions that can be taken and mandatory notification of medical settlement cases and writs. Her spokeswoman said all the minister’s recommendations had been endorsed unanimously and referred by COAG for further work and investigation.
“Victoria’s first tranche of reforms to overhaul the national health practitioner registration scheme to better protect patients from dangerous and dodgy health practitioners were unanimously endorsed,” the spokeswoman said.
