Health-related notifications about GPs: Descriptive analysis of 10 years of data from the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency.

BACKGROUND AND

OBJECTIVES

Medical regulators play an important part in protecting the public from harm. This includes receiving notifications about general practitioners (GPs) who are impaired in their ability to provide safe care because of a health condition. We sought to understand the prevalence and characteristics of health-related notifications to inform efforts to support GP wellbeing while protecting patient safety.

METHOD: We linked 10 years of notifications to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) with workforce demographics. We described characteristics of health-related notifications and calculated the odds of receiving a notification.

RESULTS

GPs received 40% of notifications about doctors from 2012 to 2022. Health impairments represented 2.8% of notifications. The most frequent health- related concerns were drug or alcohol use for male and rural GPs, mental health for female GPs and cognitive issues for older GPs. Over a third (38.8%) of health-related notifications were raised by another health practitioner, and 17.3% led to restrictions on practice.

DISCUSSION: Health-related concerns are a small proportion of notifications about GPs but can have serious consequences. Targeted interventions may support GP wellbeing.