NOTIFICATIONS (complaints or concerns) to the Pharmacy Board of Australia (PBA) increased 19.7% in 2016 to 10,082 nationally, representing 1.5% of the registration base, the Board announced yesterday.
The figures are based on individual annual report summaries for each state and territory which aim to provide insights into how the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme is operating.
The significant hike in notifications is largely due to a 105% increase in matters referred to the Australian Health Practitioners Regulatory Authority from the Office of the Health Ombudsman in Queensland.
The AHPRA reports list the notifications received by profession, types of complaint, matters for immediate action, monitoring and compliance, panels and tribunals, as well as statutory offences.
They also summarise overall registration figures, with 657,621 health practitioners registered in Australia in 2015/16.
Queensland saw the greatest growth in registrations, at 4.6%, while WA had the highest percentage of women in the health workforce, totalling 78% of all practitioners in the state.
Nationally, women comprised over three-quarters of the total registered health workforce.
The AHPRA highlighted that National Law requires that a registered health practitioner must notify the Board if, in the course of practising their profession, they form a reasonable belief that another registered health practitioner has behaved in a way that constitutes 'notifiable conduct'.
See pharmacyboard.gov.au.
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