THE Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) has introduced changes to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law that make it an offence to retaliate against anyone who raises concerns with regulators, or to seek to use non-disclosure agreements to impede investigations.
Taking effect from yesterday, the changes aim to provide greater protection to people who have concerns about health practitioners and wish to make a complaint.
The changes guard against any attempted reprisals, and make it an offence to threaten, intimidate, dismiss, refuse to employ or otherwise discriminate against someone involved in a complaint to Ahpra and the National Boards, with penalties ranging from $60,000 to $120,000.
In addition, the changes stipulate that people are free to complain despite any clause in a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) they may have previously signed to resolve issues - and it is now an offence to enter into an agreement that does not set that out in writing.
"No one can make you sign away your right to make a complaint about a practitioner," Ahpra CEO Justin Untersteiner said.
"Ahpra's number one priority is to prevent harm, and to do that we need all the available evidence and information.
"While reprisals are, thankfully, uncommon, we will not hesitate to prosecute anyone who threatens notifiers or witnesses acting in good faith," he concluded.
Ahpra has policies against vexatious complaints and has been working to minimise the distress caused by the notifications process, including through more efficient assessments.
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