Insights Categories: Health

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (‘AHPRA’) has applauded recent amendments[1] to the Health Practitioner Regulation Agency National Law Act 2009 (the ‘National Law’), which it says will provide additional protections for the public. The amendments, passed in Queensland Parliament, will apply to all jurisdictions except for Western Australia and South Australia where separate legislation […]

On 19 October 2017 the COAG Health Council announced the first appointments to the Paramedicine Board of Australia. The Paramedicine Board was established following amendments to the Health Practitioner National Law (the National Law) in September 2017. Together with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulations Agency (AHPRA), the Paramedicine Board will now begin work in preparation […]

The potential for inadvertent privacy breaches in the age of third party web providers became all too apparent for the Australian Red Cross Blood Service (the “Blood Service”) recently, after it was discovered that the personal information relating to approximately 550,000 prospective blood donors was leaked on 5 September 2016. The circumstances of the breach […]

In the wake of a recent flurry of regulatory activity by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (‘AHPRA’) regarding advertising obligations, many practitioners may be feeling apprehensive about their ongoing compliance under the Health Practitioner National Law 2009 (the ‘National Law’). However, a new resource recently published by AHPRA may help practitioners to navigate the […]

In this edition of Pharmacy insights we focus on recent legal developments which may impact on pharmacy businesses and highlight recent legislative changes to the Retail Leases Act in NSW, which import new protections for retail pharmacy tenants. Also, we discuss some recent cases in the franchise sector concerning disclosures made by a franchisor. In […]

This article considers the health providers’ duty of care in disclosing genetic information to a patient’s relatives when consent is withheld. In an earlier article in relation to the decision of ABC v St George’s Heath Care NHS Trust,1 we highlighted the difficulties facing health service providers in disclosing a patient’s genetic information to a genetic relative when consent is withheld, […]

The case scenario: A complaint was made to the Pharmacy Board of Australia (‘Board’) that a pharmacist provided an excessive quantity of Restavit, a Schedule 3 poison, and for a duration for which there was no established therapeutic need. The pharmacist explained to the Board that he had supplied the drug as he believed it was […]

The case scenario: A patient made a complaint to the Pharmacy Board of Australia (‘Board’) that a pharmacist refused to dispense a prescription for Mogadon. The pharmacist explained to the Board that the reason he refused to dispense the prescription was because the previous year the patient had presented to the pharmacy with a forged […]

The use and licensing of radiology equipment in South Australia is controlled and managed by the South Australia Environment Protection Authority (EPA), which administers the Radiation Protection and Control Act 1982 and the Radiation Protection and Control (Ionising Radiation) Regulations 2015. The EPA’s Radiation Protection Branch deals with radiology equipment within healthcare, which includes regulating […]

In this case, the Dental Board of Australia conducted an investigation after a patient notified the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), alleging over-diagnosis by a dental practitioner. The key facts: A patient presented in 2015 for extraction of a heavily filled tooth which was now fractured and un-restorable. The tooth was extracted simply and without […]

Since at least 2012 there has been an increasing push in Australia for the implementation of a national real-time prescription monitoring system that alerts doctors and pharmacists to people who are misusing prescription drugs. More than 20 Coronial Inquests in New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia alone have recommended a real-time prescription monitoring system […]