Mandatory notifications: know your obligations

There are 2 types of notifications or ways to raise concerns about a registered practitioner’s behaviour:

1. voluntary notification – anyone can make a notification if they are concerned about a registered practitioner’s behaviour, including another registered practitioner
2. mandatory notification – a registered practitioner must make a notification regarding another practitioner if they believe their behaviour may place the public at risk.

Who can make a complaint (notification) about a practitioner?  

Anyone can make a complaint about the clinical care, treatment, professional behaviour or health of a registered health practitioner in NSW. Below are some of the most common types of complaints received by councils.

Concerns about unsafe clinical care and treatment, such as:

• misdiagnosing a condition
• not providing the right treatment
• breaching infection control standards
• not keeping or recording important information in patient records
• breaching a restriction on their registration.

Concerns about practitioner behaviour, such as:

• engaging in sexual misconduct with a patient
• disclosing confidential patient information
• not adequately explaining the risks of a proposed treatment
• not being responsive to patient needs
• refusing to see a patient
• providing excessive, unnecessary or inappropriate health services.

Health concerns

Councils also manage concerns where a practitioner has a health issue or impairment that could place the public at risk if not properly managed, such as a psychiatric or psychological issue or a problem with alcohol or drugs.

Mandatory notifications

A more complex area for practitioners is mandatory notifications. To protect the public from the risk of harm, registered health practitioners and their employers are legally required to make mandatory notifications in certain circumstances. This obligation is set out under Section 140 of the National Lawopen_in_new.

Mandatory notifications relate to:

• who is required to make a notification
• how to make a notification
• how notifiers are legally protected when doing so.

What must be reported as a mandatory notification?

Under the National Law, a mandatory notification must be made when a practitioner becomes aware of certain concerns that may pose a risk to the public including:
•    sexual misconduct
•    intoxication while practising
•    significant departure from accepted professional standards
•    impairment.

Who must make a mandatory notification?

There are 3 categories of people who may be required to make a mandatory notification: 

1. treating practitioners
2. non-treating practitioners
3. employers of practitioners.

Reporting thresholds by group

The table above identifies the grounds for making a mandatory notification. More information can be found on the Ahpra website regarding mandatory notificationsopen_in_new.

In NSW, if you believe a practitioner’s behaviour puts the public at risk you can make a complaint to us.

As registered practitioners we need to understand that people and even groups might associate our behaviour outside the workplace with our professional role. If you’re wearing identifiable items, your conduct could be seen as representative of the whole profession. There are many examples of this in the media. It’s important that we recognise that others might not be able to separate our work role from that of our personal lives.

We encourage all practitioners to become familiar with information on the Council website regarding notifications in NSW, as well as the mandatory notification requirements outlined in this article and on the Ahpraopen_in_new and Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC)open_in_new websites.

In NSW and Queensland, the notification process operates differently from other states. If you contact Ahpra directly, you may be advised to refer your concern to the Health Professional Councils Authority (or, in Queensland, the Office of the Health Ombudsman). 

It’s important to follow up if you are advised to do so. An Ahpra staff member will advise you whether your concern requires a notification and can guide you through the process in NSW.