Breaking news: Medical board ditches push for mandatory health checks on older doctors
It admits there is no robust evidence that mandatory health checks will definitively reduce notifications.
The Medical Board of Australia has abandoned its attempt to impose mandatory health checks on some 8500 older doctors after admitting there was scant evidence they would definitively reduce notifications or patient harm.
It follows the board’s discovery that over a two year period only 14 doctors aged 70 and over were subject to regulatory action — including suspension, conditions, and reprimands — following notifications of health impairment.
When it first announced the consultation on the proposal last year, the medical board claimed that there was a “moral imperative” to act given the serious risks to patient safety.
It quote figures that late-career doctors were 81% more likely to face a formal complaint than their younger colleagues.
