8 - The regulation of the medical profession

Summary

To practise medicine in Australia doctors are required by law to be registered with the relevant state or territory medical board. For convenience, in this chapter the term ‘medical board’ will be used for all the states and the territories, although the name of the first registration body established in Australia, in 1837, is the Medical Council of Tasmania. Also, in this chapter the term ‘state’ will apply to both states and the territories. The addresses and websites of the medical boards are provided in Table 8.1.

The requirements for registration are practically identical in each state. Via the process of ‘mutual recognition’ (explained later in this chapter), a doctor who is registered in one state has an automatic right to be registered in any other state, subject to completing certain procedural requirements and paying the relevant fee. Any conditions or limitations that apply to the registration in the original state will also apply in the second state.

The main purpose of registration is to protect the public. This is achieved through the powers granted to medical boards to:

• determine that applicants for registration possess recognised medical qualifications and are of good character

• investigate allegations of unprofessional conduct and discipline doctors found guilty

• suspend or place conditions upon the registration of doctors whose capacity to practise is impaired by illness, and

• in some states, place conditions upon the registration of doctors whose practice performance (competence) is found to be unsatisfactory.

These powers are mostly identical between the states, although some structural and procedural differences exist and there is considerable variation in how complaints made against doctors are handled (see also Chapter 9).