DISCLOSURE OF REPORTS, NOTIFICATIONS etc.
This policy refers only to disclosure to the person who is subject of a report or notification. It is not intended to refer to disclosure to third parties.
The Board receives reports and notifications about some nurses and midwives and applicants for registration, authorisation and enrolment, for a range of reasons. Where the matter leads to formal proceedings, the report or notification may form part of the evidence placed before the Tribunal, Committee, Panel or inquiry.
In some instances, nurses or midwives request access to the documents prior to formal proceedings being initiated or in circumstances that may never lead to any formal proceedings.
There are competing principles that require to be balanced in deliberating on when to provide documents to nurses and midwives:
- There is, in our community, a general expectation that a person is entitled to know what is being said about one, and by whom.
- In some instances, provision of information may lead to harm to the person making the report or the person about whom the report is made.
In some instances there may be legislation or legal/ethical obligations that override other considerations.
It is desirable that persons making reports and those about whom reports are made have clear information about the circumstances in which information is disclosed.
Notifications, reports etc. received by the Board and sought by nurses and midwives may include (but are not limited to):
- some notifications about nurses and midwives, provided they do not constitute complaints as defined in legislation;
- medical or other reports received in response to a health assessment sought by the Board;
- reports provided to the Board by nurse or midwife managers or treating health professionals etc. in relation to conditions on registration or enrolment. Such conditions may have been imposed by the Board or an inquiry under Schedule 1B or by the Tribunal, a Professional Standards Committee, Performance Review Panel or recommended by an Impairment Panel and agreed by the nurse or midwife;
- professional references, character references and verifications of professional practice submitted to the Board in support of another person's application for registration, authorisation or enrolment - in some instances, the Board may require that documents be sent directly to the Board's office by the relevant referees.
It may often be preferable that a person or organisation, making a report to the Board, also provides the same information to the nurse or midwife i.e. an employing health service lodging a notification about a nurse or midwife may provide the person with a copy of document submitted to the Board; or a medical practitioner may provide a copy of a medical report to the nurse or midwife who is subject of the report; or a person providing a reference regarding an applicant's professional practice may provide a copy to the applicant.
Where a nurse or midwife has not been provided with a copy of the document and requests it, the Board will generally be predisposed to provide a copy.
If a person making a report or notifying the Board of a concern does not agree to the content of the document being disclosed, this information should be provided to the Board with the report or notification.
Where the person making a report or notifying the Board of a concern has not consented to release of a document, the Board will not release the document in the first instance. However if the person, to whom a document refers, requests the document in accord with provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1989, the request will be dealt with in accord with that Act, which may or may not lead to its release. Schedule 1 to the Freedom of Information Act 1989 provides a range of circumstances that may preclude a document's release, for example if the document was provided to the Board by the Health Care Complaints Commission (section 26 of Schedule 1) or if a document contains information which, if disclosed, could reasonably be expected to endanger the life of physical safety of any person (section 4(1)(c) of Schedule 1).
As noted above, even if documents are not released in the first instance, they may be provided if the matter is subject to some form of formal hearing or inquiry.
Anonymous notifications are not encouraged as they cannot usually provide a basis for action to be taken. It should be anticipated that, if a request for disclosure is made in regard to an anonymous notification, the document might be released under provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1989.
Verifications of registration and good professional standing in other jurisdictions are communicated between registering authorities in different countries. There is a general expectation that, in order to minimise the potential for the manufacture of fraudulent replicas, the documents are not provided to applicants. Generally, and subject to legislated provisions, a document from another registering authority will not be released but the information contained therein will be provided to the person concerned, if required.
Section 11 of the Health Care Complaints Act 1993 provides that complaints made to registration authorities are taken to be complaints made to the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC). The Health Care Complaints Commission is exempted from provisions of the Freedom of Information Act 1989 and the Board is not able to release documents relating to a complaint or which have been provided to the Board by the HCCC. Section 16 of the Health Care Complaints Act 1993 specifies the process for notification to a person about whom a complaint has been made.
Documents are provided to a court or tribunal if such a body issues an applicable summons in accord with appropriate legislation and legal process. The particular court or tribunal would determine whether information in such documents is made available in the circumstances of the particular matter.
issued July 2009
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