THE attempted murder of a South Australian pharmacist by a general practitioner is set to see new measures put in place by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) in relation to disclosing the identity of people making notifications about health practitioners.
AHPRA has accepted ten recommendations from the recently concluded Review of confidentiality safeguards for people making notifications about health practitioners which was conducted at the agency's request following the 2018 attack on pharmacist Kelly Akehurst, who had reported Dr Brian Holder to AHPRA over concerns he was inappropriately prescribing benzodiazepine.
Holder learned her identity through the notification, and subsequently hid a knife in a bunch of flowers before driving to the TerryWhite Chemmart pharmacy where Akehurst worked and tried to stab her (PD 19 Nov 2018).
The review found that AHPRA's practices for managing anonymity and confidentiality were consistent with other jurisdictions, but "there were improvements that could be made" including dealing with each notification on a case-by-case basis to determine whether the release of a notifier's name is necessary.
New resources are being developed to support and provide guidance to AHPRA staff clarifying how and when to redact a notifier's information, as well as how to identify and flag potential harassment or intimidation of notifiers by a practitioner.
A new guide, to be published by 31 Jul, will also provide information on managing the risk of vexatious notifications.
AHPRA CEO, Martin Fletcher (pictured), said "we want reporting to be safe for all notifiers... information disclosed to us by notifiers is critical to our work as a regulator and keeping the public safe".
"So it is vital that individuals feel safe to raise their concerns with us," Fletcher said.
He said AHPRA and the National Boards were continuing their work to improve the notifications experience, both for notifiers and health practitioners who are subject to a notification.
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