Our health law team helped a social worker in regional NSW to successfully respond to a complaint made against her by a client to the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission.
Her client alleged breach of privacy and inappropriate disclosure of information.
Our client is an Accredited Mental Health Social Worker with more than a decade of experience. She had never had a complaint made against her.
She terminated her initial consultation with her client once it became clear to her that she knew of other family members and perceived a conflict of interest. Her client became agitated when she explained that there was a conflict of interest, despite her offering to arrange for him to see someone else and offering some general tips on anxiety management.
What did we do?
The Commission reviews complaints and considers the most appropriate way to deal with the concerns raised in accordance with the Health Care Complaints Act 1993.
We assisted our social worker client to understand the Health Care Complaints Commission’s process and to draft her response. We submitted the complaint on her behalf.
The result
The Health Care Complaints Commission assessed the complaint against our social worker client and took no further action. It saw no issues of boundary violation or inappropriate disclosure of information and found our client appropriately ended the counselling session.
Social workers are unregistered health practitioners but are bound by the Code of Conduct for Unregistered Health Practitioners. The Commission did not identify any breach of the Code of Conduct or any risk to public health or safety.
Assessing conflicts of interest for health professionals
Health care professionals in rural communities, particularly sole practitioners, face difficulties and ethical dilemmas including in relation to conflicts of interest.
Sometimes the cost of refusing a service to a client based on their contact with another client (even though these clients are not in conflict with one another) may be more detrimental to the client’s well-being than providing a service.
Health care professionals are all aware of their privacy and confidentially obligations. These obligations are magnified in rural and remote communities where it often seems that ‘everyone knows everyone’.
Opportunities for improvement
Despite the Health Care Complaints Commission finding no basis for the complaint, our client used the process as an opportunity to improve her procedures. She has modified her initial intake discussions to better explore other known parties to the client to avoid conflicts of interest before preliminary discussions take place.
Legal support for health care professionals facing a formal complaint or regulator disciplinary action
The chances are that most medical practitioners will be the subject of a notification (complaint) at some point in their career.
Catherine Henry Lawyers’ expert health law team is experienced in helping health professionals navigate complaints processes and disciplinary action matters.
Our Principal, Catherine Henry, has previously worked for the NSW Health Care Complaints Commission.
Read our tips on responding to patient or client complaints here
Read our guide for psychologists on complaints investigation processes here
If you or another health professional needs confidential support or advice, call our team on 1800 874 949 or contact us here.
