COMPLAINTS to the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (NHPO) jumped by 42% to 823 in the 2021/22 year.
Ombudsman, Richelle McCausland, said the increase in complaints appeared to be driven by people raising concerns about regulatory responses to the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the National Health Practitioner Boards' statements regarding health practitioners' obligations around vaccination.
"My office is seeing the ongoing effects of the pandemic on community members and health practitioners, and we remain focussed on assisting with concerns about how AHPRA and the Boards have handled matters, including notifications and registration matters," she said.
The NHPO Annual Report 2021/22 revealed 28 complaints about the pharmacy profession were made to AHPRA in the 12 months to 30 Jun, with 13 complaints about the sector being received by the NHPO - up from seven in 2020/21.
The medical profession saw the number of complaints to the Ombudsman more than double from 266 in 2020/21 to 575 in 2021/22, accounting for close to 70% of all complaints received by the NHPO.
While the number of complaints about the medical and pharmacy professions were on the rise in 2021/22, the nursing and midwifery, psychology and dental professions saw declines in the number of complaints to the NHPO, with the chiropractic sector seeing complaints slump from 11 in 2020/21 to two in 2021/22.
The NHPO report revealed that Victoria provided the greatest number of complaints (203), ahead of NSW (148), with the Northern Territory accounting for the least (eight) .
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 22 Nov 22
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