News
Commission Builds Confidence But Must Remain Independent |
| Spokesperson: | AMA Queensland |
| Date: | Wednesday, 10 May 2006 |
| Category: | State Health News |
| The new Health Quality and Complaints Commission will go a long way to restoring public confidence in the State’s health system, although there are concerns about its autonomy. AMA Queensland President Dr Steve Hambleton applauded the allocation of additional resources and the broadening of the Commission’s capacity to investigate systemic issues in addition to individual complaints. “One of the key outcomes of the Bill is the ability of the Commission to make recommendations for improvements, and to self initiate or receive reports,” Dr Hambleton said. “This is not something the current Health Rights Commission has been in the position to do,” he said. However AMA Queensland is concerned that certain aspects of the Bill may have a negative bearing on public confidence in the new Commission. Dr Hambleton said the key issue is that the commission is not set up under an independent committee as proposed by Forster – it is essentially under the Minister’s direction. “Forster proposed an autonomous model overseen by a bipartisan parliamentary committee,” Dr Hambleton said. “Nurse Toni Hoffman’s need to go public in the Patel case arose because her complaints through official channels were ignored. “If there is something that we learned from Patel it is that we need an independent complaints committee,” he said. Dr Hambleton said AMA Queensland had concerns about the structure of the new commission - namely that it falls under the direction of the Minister. “While this is not a problem with a benevolent government we have to think about the potential for the misuse of this authority. “The AMA’s members will never allow a culture of concealment to return to Queensland Health,” Dr Hambleton said. |
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