To the Editor: The medical profession in Australia has 91 648 registrants and represents 16.7% of the total of 548 528 health practitioners. However, complaints (known as notifications) about doctors are disproportionate. In the 2011–12 financial year, there were 4001 notifications regarding medical practitioners, representing 52.7% of the 7594 total notifications to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.1 Looked at another way, there was an annual rate of notifications concerning individual medical practitioners of about 4.4%.
The full article is accessible to AMA members and paid subscribers. Login to read more or purchase a subscription now.
Please note: institutional and Research4Life access to the MJA is now provided through Wiley Online Library.
I worked for the MBA as a member of the Queensland Medical Interim Notification Group from May to October 2013. I have no current relationship with the MBA other than as a registered medical practitioner.