Health Services Act 2016

A staff member’s responsible authority must report any conduct of the staff member that the responsible authority suspects on reasonable grounds constitutes or may constitute professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional performance under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law to —

the professional board or authority that deals with the registration of the staff member as a health practitioner; and

the Department CEO.

A staff member’s responsible authority must, on becoming aware that the staff member has been charged with having committed, or has been convicted or found guilty of, a serious offence, report the staff member’s charge, conviction or the finding of guilt to the Department CEO.

The Department CEO may, if the Department CEO considers it appropriate to do so for the protection of a health service provider’s patients, notify a health service provider or any other person or body of a report received under subsection (1) or (2).

A notification under subsection (3) may be made in such form as the Department CEO considers appropriate.

The duty of a person to make a report under subsection (1) or (2) must be complied with, and the Department CEO may give a notification under subsection (3), despite —

the provisions of any other Act, whether enacted before or after this Act; or

any obligation the person has to maintain confidentiality about a matter to which the report relates.

Without limiting section 220, in complying with subsection (1) or (2) or giving a notification under subsection (3) a person —

does not incur any civil or criminal liability; and

is not to be taken to have breached any duty of confidentiality or secrecy imposed by law; and

is not to be taken to have breached any professional ethics or standards or any principles of conduct applicable to the person’s employment or to have engaged in unprofessional conduct.

Subsection (1) does not affect an obligation under another written law to report professional misconduct or unsatisfactory professional performance.