THE National Health Practitioner Ombudsman's annual report shows a 39% increase in complaints about Ahpra's notification process.
The Ombudsman, Richelle McCausland, said that while she welcomed a general reduction in the time taken to manage notifications, there has been a significant increase in the number of issues raised.
The two keys concerns are around decisions made about notifications being unfair or unreasonable (an increase from 153 issues in 2021-22 to 227 issues in 2022-23), and the notification's process was unfair (an increase from 46 issues in 2021-22 to 88 issues in 2022-23).
To date, the Ombudsman's office has found Ahpra to be responsive to feedback and suggestions for improvement.
Ahpra adopted a new case management model in 2022-23, however, the Ombudsman said her office continues to examine and monitor the effects of the new model and suggest appropriate remedies to identified issues.
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