Panel hearing summary 2022.0913

Decision of the Medical Board of Australia

Performance and professional standards panel 

Jurisdiction: Tasmania
Date of Decision: 6 September 2022

Classification of Notification

National Law Offence - Directing or inciting unprofessional conduct/professional misconduct 

Summary

The Board referred allegations that the Practitioner lied to a community pharmacist when asked if a script purportedly written by him (but written by a Nurse Practitioner employee of his) was authentic.

It was alleged the Practitioner also delegated several tasks to the Nurse Practitioner that lay outside her scope of practice.

The Panel made findings that lying to the Community Pharmacist constituted Unprofessional Conduct and made further findings that the Practitioner had authorised the writing of his signature by the Nurse Practitioner on CT, MRI, Ultrasound and Radioactive Iodine requests; requests for insulin pumps and had provided the Nurse Practitioner with his log-in credentials for practice software and external services.

In respect of those findings, the Panel found the Practitioner had engaged in Unsatisfactory Professional Performance.  

As the Practitioner gave evidence of the numerous improvements he had made to his personal life and professional practice since the incidents in question, the Panel did not consider any conditions were warranted, and instead imposed a reprimand as the sole determination.  The Panel noted that the reprimand was to be visible on the Register for a period of 2 years.