Draft rules for AHPRA’s new ‘public warning’ powers suggest doctors will have one day to appeal if the Medical Board of Australia decides to name them publicly during an investigation.

New laws, passed in October, gave AHPRA the ability to issue warnings about registered health practitioners before investigations were completed, if patients were deemed at risk.

The AMA has warned they could end up unfairly trashing the reputations of innocent doctors.

The watchdog insists the powers will be reserved for rare cases, giving the example of a doctor with “seriously deficient infection control procedures … who has failed to provide details of any patients that may be at serious and immediate risk”.