COMPLAINTS AGAINST OPTOMETRISTS RISING

Complaints against Australian optometrists are on the rise, with health regulator Ahpra receiving ‘notifications’ about 17 more optometrists than this time last year – a 38% increase.

The latest optometry complaints data from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) was released in its 2021/22 annual report on Tuesday 22 November.

It shows there were 68 notifications lodged against 61 optometrists, including data from the NSW Health Professional Councils Authority and Queensland’s Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO). This compares with 38 complaints against 44 optometrists in 2019/20.

This means 0.9% of the Australian optometry profession had received complaints, compared to 0.7% the previous year.

The increase is part of a broader trend among all health professions regulated by Ahpra, with 6.5% more complaints in 2021/22 than 2020/21. The overall percentage (1.6-1.7%) of health practitioners with a notification stayed around the same, however.

In terms of the 33 optometry cases that were closed in 2020/21, 42% resulted in no further action, significantly down from 74% the year before.

Fifteen per cent of closed cases this year resulted in conditions being imposed on their registration and 42% were referred to another body or retained by a health complaints entity.

Criminal complaints were lodged in four optometry cases in 2021/22; two related to advertising breaches, one about title protection and another about practice protection.

In terms of why patients complained about optometrists, clinical care was the most common reason (57%), followed by breach of non-offence provision (9%), documentation (9%), communication (6%), behaviour (3%), confidentiality (3%) and other (14%).

The majority of all complaints were made by a patient, relative or member of the public (74%), followed by a health complaints entity (11%), board-initiated (3%), employer (3%), another practitioner (3%) and other (6%).

The annual report figures show the number of registered optometrists continues to increase, up 3.4% from the year prior to 6,500. Feminisation of the Australian optometry workforce continues, with 57.6% now identifying as female.

Ahpra CEO Mr Martin Fletcher said overall there was a steady increase in notifications raising concerns about the conduct, performance or impairment of a

OF OUR REGULATORY PROCESSES, ACCESS TO SUPPORT FOR BOTH PRACTITIONERS AND NOTIFIERS AND IMPROVING OUR COMMUNICATION” registered health practitioners.

However, more than 60% did not require regulatory action, with practitioners or their employers taking steps to resolve the issue. More than 70% of the notifications closed were done so within six months on average.

Ahpra also received 925 notifications about lack of appropriate professional boundaries (63% increase). The increase can partly be attributed to new concern types relating to sexism, sexual harassment or gendered violence in healthcare, and expectations of practitioners to maintain respectful, professional practise.

“We recognise the significant stress for both practitioners and notifiers when a concern is raised with us. While there are significant challenges, we continue to focus on improving the timeliness of our regulatory processes, access to support for both practitioners and notifiers and improving our communication throughout,” Fletcher said.

In June, Ahpra updated the shared Code of conduct which sets out the expectations for 12 regulated professions, including optometry.

It also revised regulatory principles underpinning its decision making, making it clear that public protection is its paramount objective.