Committing to compassion in medical regulation

Receiving a complaint can feel devastating and have wide-ranging effects. Often, complaints are unexpected, and this compounds their effect on practitioners who are already busy juggling their practice, family and life outside the family. Practitioners can feel singled out, but they’re not alone. More than 80% of practitioners will receive at least one complaint over a 30-year career but only 10% of complaints will require further action. Even fewer will result in suspension. But we know that any complaint, no matter how seemingly trivial, can have a major effect on wellbeing and a doctor’s ability to perform at their best.

The Medical Council’s role is to act to protect the health and safety of the public. This includes supporting doctors to return to safe practise and in doing so, being mindful of the impact complaints can have on their wellbeing.

The Council is made up of both active practitioners and community members. When we consider a complaint, we prioritise empathy for both the public and the practitioner.

This is not an either/or scenario. Finding ways to lessen the emotional effects of a complaint on practitioners benefits everyone.

How we commit to compassionate regulation

Dealing with complaints as quickly as possible reduces the stress of waiting for an outcome. This is what we’re striving for, while balancing the need to gather and assess the information we require to make fair and informed decisions.

Taking great care to exclude conflicts and bias in decision making is critical. We do this by:

• encouraging practitioner reflection on a complaint so we can better understand their circumstances and their response
• excluding any committee or hearing members who may have personal or professional conflict of interest in relation to a practitioner
• encouraging input from all members of each committee to ensure we’ve considered all views, and each complaint is treated on its merits.

Having a psychiatrist member on each Council committee heightens our awareness of practitioner vulnerability. It helps us remain sensitive to the possibility that a health issue may contribute to people not functioning at their best.

And seeking outside perspectives is a key to continuous improvement. Our regular consultation with professional bodies such as medical indemnity insurers and the AMA can highlight aspects of our procedures that could adversely affect practitioners.

Getting the right support

Embarrassment and even shame are common reactions to receiving a complaint. Feeling this way can make it difficult for practitioners to reach out for support.

Experience tells us that practitioners who engage with a support network may progress more smoothly through the complaints process. That support can come from many avenues.

We always recommend practitioners contact their medical indemnity insurer for advice and support. Indemnity insurers can be a valuable source of learning resources that identify where standards may have changed. They are also extremely well versed in our Council processes and can help you understand what is happening and what is coming next.

Other organisations, such as the Medical Benevolent Association of NSW-ACT or Doctors Health NSW, offer vital support services. Talking with peers and colleagues can be productive too. These conversations can help you reflect on what may have led to a complaint and are a mainstay for many specialty colleges, who mandate peer interaction as a professional development process.

Engaging family and friends can definitely make the complaints process less isolating. And reaching out to your own GP can be a vital step in practising self-care.

When practitioners attend hearings, they are often surprised when we ask about their engagement with their own GP and their strategies for ensuring adequate leisure time and holidays. Proactively avoiding overwork and burnout are well recognised as key to maintaining high professional standards.

Future focus

The Council will always endeavour to deal with complaints fairly and with the right regulatory touch and remain approachable.

As part of our commitment to ongoing improvement, we are looking at ways to refine how we work to increase compassion in regulation. This includes exploring issues such as how and when we communicate, how we respond to those in distress, and how we address complaints about our own processes.

Key points 

•    Complaints are common and most will not result in suspension. 
•    You’re not alone. There are support services available and we encourage you to seek them out.
•    We know complaints are stressful, so we’ll always strive to act with empathy and compassion. 
•    The goals of protecting public health and safety and supporting practitioners through the regulatory process with compassion go hand in hand.