The Medical Board of Australia says it would be “wary” of publicly naming every doctor who has received a notification, ahead of possible further reforms to information available on the medical register.

Medical board chair Dr Anne Tonkin was commenting ahead of new laws, which come into effect this week, allowing the board to issue a public warning about doctors it believes pose a serious risk to public safety.

During a media briefing last Wednesday, she and AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said it was anticipated it would be “a rarely used power” for exceptional circumstances only. 

It would be used most often to warn the community about dangerous unregistered individuals — in these cases, AHPRA will issue the warning — rather than currently registered practitioners.