June 2018

• Chair's message
• Consultation
  • Tell us what you think about draft changes to Good medical practice
• Contacting the Board

Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia sets out the professional standards the Medical Board expects of all doctors in Australia.  It was first adopted by the Board in 2010 and underwent a minor revision in 2014.  We are now undertaking a more significant review and want to know what you think of the changes we are proposing to make. Please take this opportunity to contribute to the consultation.

Dr Joanna Flynn AM
Chair, Medical Board of Australia

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Tell us what you think about draft changes to Good medical practice

We are reviewing the code of conduct, Good medical practice: a code of conduct for doctors in Australia, and want to know what you think of the proposed changes. The current version has been in place since 2014.

The changes we are suggesting to Good medical practice include:

• strengthening our guidance about discrimination, bullying, sexual harassment and vexatious complaints
• changing the section on culturally safe and sensitive practice to be clearer about the responsibilities doctors have to provide care that is culturally safe and respectful and to support the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The suggested changes to these sections mirror recent changes made by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia to the codes of conduct for nurses and midwives. It makes sense to have consistent guidance across the regulated health professions
• expanding sections on:
  • professionalism, and
  • patient safety, with more guidance on doctors’ clinical governance responsibilities
• new guidance on career transitions for doctors.

Read more about these changes in the consultation paper on the Board’s website under Current consultations. The Board is keen to hear from practitioners, stakeholders and the community.

Please email written submissions to medboardconsultation@ahpra.gov.au, marked: ‘Public consultation on Good medical practice ’.

The consultation closes on 3 August 2018.

The Board generally publishes submissions to consultations on its website to encourage discussion and inform the community and stakeholders, unless confidentiality is requested. For more detail, please refer to the section on submissions in the consultation paper.

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Contacting the Board

• The Medical Board of Australia and AHPRA can be contacted by phone on 1300 419 495.
• For more information, see the Medical Board of Australia website and the AHPRA website.
• Lodge an enquiry form through the website under Contact us at the bottom of every web page.
• Mail correspondence can be addressed to: Dr Joanna Flynn AM, Chair, Medical Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne, VIC 3001.

More information

Please note: Practitioners are responsible for keeping up to date with the Board’s expectations about their professional obligations. The Board publishes standards, codes and guidelines as well as alerts in its newsletter. If you unsubscribe from this newsletter you are still required to keep up to date with information published on the Board’s website.

Comment on the Board newsletter is welcome and should be sent to newsletters@ahpra.gov.au.

For registration enquiries or contact detail changes, call the AHPRA customer service team on 1300 419 495 (from within Australia).

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