The Medicare watchdog has been ordered to suspend an investigation into Australia’s largest after-hours corporate, after a court ruled the company had been denied procedural fairness.

In a decision handed down on Monday, the Federal Court of Australia ruled the Professional Services Review (PSR) had “shifted the goalposts” on the National Home Doctor Service, by changing the focus of its investigation into alleged rorting at the company without proper warning.

Medicare’s integrity unit originally asked the PSR to look into the corporate in 2018, after it was accused in media reports of “dodgy deals” and inadequate patient care.

Among the claims was that the company engaged in ‘kickbacks for kids’ schemes, where schoolchildren would receive fundraising cash if they signed up to the service.