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Australian consumers rely heavily on effective regulators across many industry sectors.
This is especially important in healthcare where negligence or incompetence can result in disfigurement, long-term pain and even death; proactive and effective watchdogs are vital to safeguarding patients’ interests.
It is disappointing then that one of the nation’s most important supervisory bodies, the Australian Healthcare Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), is once more in the spotlight.
As health editor, Kate Aubusson, reports in today’s Sun-Herald many injured, chronically ill and traumatised patients have accused AHPRA of failing to adequately investigate allegations of gross negligence and misconduct by doctors, nurses and allied healthcare professionals.
They report a worrying lack of transparency in the agency’s complaints handling; cases are sometimes dismissed without investigation, and no explanation is offered as to why.
Earlier this year the ABC’s Four Corners detailed how the agency failed to act on multiple complaints about surgeries performed by renowned Melbourne gynaecologist Simon Gordon.
While Gordon says he always acted “ethically and responsibly”, expert colleagues say AHPRA “dropped the ball” when it took no action on the complaints.
Today’s report describes how patients received pro forma letters from AHPRA in response to detailed and often deeply personal testimonials. Patients also complain of an alarming lack of trauma-informed communication with agency staff.
This is not the first time AHPRA’s performance has been called into question.
In 2021 and 2022 the Cosmetic Cowboys series of investigative reports by this masthead– along with reporting by 60 Minutes and Four Corners – documented scores of cases where people suffered horrific disfigurement and life-threatening complications after cosmetic procedures.
The investigation exposed widespread malpractice and predatory marketing within Australia’s multibillion-dollar cosmetic surgery industry.
Following those reports hundreds of people joined a class action demanding compensation for botched cosmetic surgery.
These revelations put AHPRA under intense scrutiny and raised doubts about its capacity to protect patients.
At the time, consumer affairs expert and former chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission Allan Fels warned the agency was “ineffective in protecting the public from very dangerous practices in cosmetic surgery”.
Source: Read the original article on www.smh.com.au
Written by https://futureknowledge.in/
