Independent review on chaperoning

10 Aug 2016

The Medical Board of Australia and AHPRA have patient and public safety as their number one objective.

We are commissioning an independent review on the use of chaperoning restrictions. While chaperoning is widely used by regulators internationally, this independent review will assess its effectiveness in keeping patients safe in Australia.

The review will be led by Professor Ron Paterson who is Professor of Law at the University of Auckland and Distinguished Visiting Fellow at Melbourne Law School. He was New Zealand Health and Disability Commissioner 2000-2010 and New Zealand Parliamentary Ombudsman 2013-2016.

Professor Paterson is an international expert on patients’ rights, complaints, healthcare quality and the regulation of health professions. He is co-editor of the textbook Health Law in New Zealand (2015) and author of The Good Doctor: What Patients Want (2012). He was Chairman of the New Zealand Banking Ombudsman Scheme (2010-2013) and a non-Fellow Board member of the Board of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (2010-2013).

We will report to Health Ministers on the outcomes of the review and commit to full transparency in how we respond to its recommendations.

Of Australia’s 106,857 registered medical practitioners, 47 have chaperoning restrictions on their registration (0.04%). Chaperoning restrictions are used as an interim measure while investigations into allegations of serious misconduct continue. Restrictions are published on the online Register of practitioners and compliance is actively monitored by AHPRA.

We encourage all Australians to look up their registered health practitioner and see the details of their registration at www.ahpra.gov.au. If there are restrictions, they will be published on the register.

If anyone has concerns about the care they have received from a registered health practitioner, please contact AHPRA on 1300 419 495.

For more information

• Lodge an online enquiry form 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9275 9009 (overseas callers)
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

Download a PDF of this Media statement - Independent review on chaperoning - 10 August 2016 (213 KB,PDF)