Legal privilege for healthcare workers during investigations | AMA (WA)
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AMA WA ACTION AGENDA

Culture & Safety

Legal privilege for healthcare workers during investigations

WHAT WE WANT

  • WA Health to comply with the law and recognise entitlements and service transfer for doctors in training (DiTs) who transition to senior doctor positions, where there is no break in service. All previous breaches redressed by WA Health employers.
  • Implement a system where WA Health doctors are able to retain accrued entitlements when they break service with WA Health due to the inherent nature of medical training and practice (e.g. interstate or overseas training opportunities).

WHY WE WANT IT

SAC1 incident investigation and reporting is critical to protect patient care by supporting strategies at a system level to minimise harm, ensure lessons are learnt, reduce risk and identify hazards.

Healthcare workers participating in investigations must feel safe enough to disclose all relevant information to minimise the risk of the same error occurring in the future. SAC1 investigations target incidents and clinical safety; they should not be used to vilify medical practitioners.

Recent conduct of WA Health in relation to SAC1 incident reporting has raised concerns among medical professionals about how information disclosed in the course of investigations may be used against them.

The aim of the SAC1 is more likely achieved by making the recommendations public, but not the details of the investigation, as evidence will be given without reservation.

WHEN IT’S DONE

Reduced fear and unease arising from participating in SAC1 incident investigations, allowing the investigation to find the true cause of severe incidents. There is precedence in the aeronautical industry for such an approach.
The recommendations of the SAC1 should be made public, but the process should be legally privileged.

BACK TO ACTION AGENDA

AMA (WA) ACTION AGENDA

612 more public hospital beds Health budget increase of 5-6% p.a. for 4 years Save WA’s emergency departments from collapse
Amend Health Services Act to better support doctors A Fair Go: Job Security For Senior Doctors A Fair Go: Portability & Retention Of Entitlements For Doctors Legal privilege for healthcare workers during investigations
State-wide electronic medical record Enhanced services and clinical governance at new women and babies hospital Improved telehealth services and capacity
GP Primary Care Taskforce Independent review of WA Health Corporate Governance Decision-making transparency
Interim quarantine facility Best-practice workplace safety & improved processes to prevent COVID breaches Commonwealth quarantine facility