Monitoring information for practitioners

• Information – Authority to release information form
• Employment – Employer acknowledgement form
• Employment – Employment advice form
• Employment – Request for approval of employment and practice locations form
  
• Employment – Employer acknowledgement and consent form
• Employment – Authority to conduct a site visit form

• Age restrictions – Acknowledgement of booking staff form
• Age restrictions – Details of booking staff form
• Combined gender/age restriction - Acknowledgement of booking staff
• Gender restrictions – Acknowledgement of booking staff form
• Gender restrictions – Details of booking staff
• Employment – go to Authority/Employment forms (above) and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions
• Information – go to Authority/Employment forms (above) and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions

• Mentor - Mentor acknowledgement
  
• Mentor - Nomination of mentor
• Supervision – Nomination of supervisor form
  
• Supervision – Information for supervisors approved by the Health Ombudsman
• Employment – go to Authority/Employment forms (above) and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions
• Information – go to Authority/Employment forms (above) and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions
  

• Acknowledgement of practice staff
• Practice monitor log
• Information for practice monitors
• Practice monitor – Nomination of practice monitors
• Practice monitor – Nomination of practice staff
• Practice monitor – Patient information and acknowledgement form
• Practice monitor – Practice monitor acknowledgement
• Practice monitor – Protocol for registered health practitioners
• Employment – go to Authority/Employment forms (above) and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions
• Information – go to Authority/Employment forms (above) and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions

• Audit – Nomination of auditor form
• Audit – Auditor acknowledgement form
• Education - Nomination of education form
• Education – Program provider acknowledgement
• Employment – go to Authority/Employment forms and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions
• Information – go to Authority/Employment forms and choose forms stated in conditions/restrictions

• Variation application

The Health Ombudsman can take immediate action under Part 7 of the Health Ombudsman Act 2013 (the Act) where there is a reasonable belief the action is necessary to protect public health or safety, or the action is otherwise in the public interest. For registered practitioners, this means taking immediate registration action by imposing conditions on or suspending a practitioner’s registration, or accepting undertakings from a practitioner – or, for unregistered health practitioners, the Health Ombudsman can issue an interim prohibition order either prohibiting or restricting their provision of any health service, or a stated health service.

The Health Ombudsman can also issue prohibition orders under Part 8A of the Act, which are issued following the conclusion of an investigation and not as an interim action.

Following a decision by the Health Ombudsman to take immediate action or issue a prohibition order, our office will monitor the practitioner’s compliance with the action or order. Monitoring staff engage with practitioners, and others involved in their monitoring, to ensure a thorough understanding of expectations and compliance requirements, and to address any matters of concern. Monitoring staff are also responsible for briefing the Health Ombudsman concerning the compliance status of practitioners and for communicating decisions about monitoring matters back to practitioners.

The type of action taken by the Health Ombudsman will determine the type of monitoring activities undertaken to assess compliance. Some common monitoring activities include open source intelligence gathering, requests for information from the practitioner and/or third parties, site visits to the practitioner’s place of practice, specific monitoring activities specified in the practitioner’s conditions, undertakings and/or restrictions, and any other activity identified as necessary to monitor compliance with the immediate action.

Most monitoring requirements are included in the immediate action conditions, undertakings or restrictions, however monitoring officers also have legislative powers to require individuals to give information about a health practitioner’s compliance with immediate action.

Practitioners with conditions, undertakings or restrictions are required to provide written authorities to enable the office to obtain information and records from various entities relevant to monitoring of the practitioner’s compliance with the action taken. This may include employers, government agencies, private health insurers, and any other entity that may be able to provide relevant information. The Act also provides legislative powers to require stated information for monitoring purposes.

Other monitoring activities do not require the use of any legislative powers. For example, open source intelligence gathering is the collection of data from publicly available sources such as social media, online forums and websites, and used in an intelligence context.

Further information will usually be sought before the information is considered by the Health Ombudsman. This may include inviting the practitioner to provide an explanation for the suspected non-compliance and/or using legislative powers to require individuals to give information about a health practitioner’s compliance with an action or order. On the information available, the Health Ombudsman will decide if any further action is necessary.

If a practitioner contravenes their immediate action or prohibition order, inadvertently or otherwise, they should immediately contact staff of the Monitoring and Compliance Team on 0731581329 or via email at monitoring@oho.qld.gov.au. The timely manner in which a practitioner notifies the office of any instance of non-compliance will be taken into consideration when deciding whether any further action is necessary.

If a practitioner considers there has been a material change to the matter that gave rise to the IRA or PO, they can apply to the Health Ombudsman for consideration of a variation to the existing action.

Please contact the Monitoring and Compliance Team if you have any questions about the variation application process.