Understanding our independent and impartial role

Some recent complaints to the office of the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (NHPO) have raised concerns about how the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Health Practitioner Boards (the National Boards) have handled matters involving issues related to gender diversity. 

Recent media reports from The Australian have also commented on issues related to gender and how our office manages complaints.

We generally do not publicly comment on individual complaint outcomes or decisions due to our privacy and confidentiality obligations.

This page explains how our complaint process is independent and impartial. It also outlines why our staff may use pronouns in their email signatures.

Explaining our complaint-handling role and process

Our office’s role is to provide a fair, independent and impartial complaint-handling service for the public and health practitioners. Every complaint is important to us. We take allegations of bias or conflicts of interest in decision-making seriously. People can expect that our staff will listen to their concerns and seek to understand the issues they are raising.

The organisations we can accept complaints about are:

• Ahpra and the National Boards

• accreditation authorities, such as an accreditation committee or council

• specialist medical colleges.

Learn more about how to make a complaint

It is not our role to consider employment-related issues, such as workplace policies or initiatives, related to these bodies in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme). 

We carefully consider and assess all complaints we receive to decide on the most appropriate way to respond to the concerns raised. We make decisions in line with relevant legislation and our office’s policies and procedures. 

Find out more about our complaint process

If a complainant is dissatisfied with their complaint outcome, we encourage them to contact us. The first step is to discuss their concerns with the staff member who managed their complaint. Our website also provides information about how to raise a concern about our services or a decision that we have made.

Learn more about providing feedback

The Ombudsman and Commissioner's independent statutory role

The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law in force in each state and territory establishes the Ombudsman and Commissioner roles. 

The Ombudsman and Commissioner is appointed by Health Ministers of the jurisdictions across Australia.

The Ombudsman and Commissioner is not employed by the Victorian Department of Health (the department) and is not a member of, or otherwise affiliated with, ACON or its Pride and Diversity Australian Workplace Equality Index (AWEI).

The Ombudsman and Commissioner delegates some of her decision-making powers to staff. When making a delegated decision, staff may only exercise a power, or make a decision, in line with the relevant legislation. The policies which guide decisions made by the Ombudsman’s delegates are available on our website.

Understanding our hosting arrangement with the department and its participation in the AWEI

Our office is hosted by the department. Under this hosting arrangement the department provides essential corporate services to our office, such as IT and payroll support. Our staff are employed by the department.

Our website includes information about the department’s diversity and inclusion initiatives on our ‘Work with us’ page. As the department's website outlines, it is currently a silver AWEI employer. The department’s LGBTIQA+ Workplace Inclusion Action Plan outlines its “commitment to cultivating a workplace culture defined by inclusivity, respect, and safety for all employees, irrespective of their sexual orientation or gender identity.”

Our staff’s decisions are independent

The department does not play any role in decisions made by our staff when exercising powers delegated to them by the Ombudsman and Commissioner. This includes those related to deciding the outcome of a complaint.

We do not consider that the department’s participation in the AWEI presents a conflict of interest in our office’s consideration of complaints about entities in the National Scheme.

We are committed to providing a safe and respectful environment for all people

As both a workplace and a complaints body serving a diverse community with a wide range of identities and experiences, we are committed to ensuring a safe and respectful environment for all people.

We celebrate, value and include people of all backgrounds, genders, sexualities, cultures, bodies and abilities.

Why our staff may include pronouns in their email signatures

Our staff have the option to include their pronouns in their email signatures. We encourage including this information because it:

• normalises the use of pronouns, including signalling that we will respect an individual’s pronouns if they share this information with our office

• helps avoid the misgendering of our staff

• fosters an inclusive, safe and supportive workplace.

Using pronouns does not influence, compromise or otherwise impact our ability to manage complaints in accordance with our office’s policies and our values of being fair and independent. 

Our decisions are based on the available information, impartial processes and the requirements of the relevant law. More information about the policies guiding how we assess and manage complaints is available on our website.

Learn more about our policies

Information we provide about why we use pronouns

We recently updated the link staff can choose to include in their email signatures describing why they use pronouns to the Queensland Human Rights Commission’s ‘Why pronouns matter’ web page. In the past, some of our staff’s email signatures included a link to ACON’s webpage on using and respecting individuals’ pronouns. 

The purpose of these links is, and has been, to guide individuals to additional information if they want to learn more about why staff have chosen to include their pronouns in their email signature.

We updated the web page link staff can choose to share after hearing some concerns about how we describe why we use pronouns. The updated link seeks to help complainants access information about why we use pronouns directly from another independent statutory body, the Queensland Human Rights Commission. 

This change aims to assist our staff to have constructive conversations based on a shared understanding of why using pronouns is valuable. For example, this web page also gives further context for how the use of pronouns aligns with the protection of LGBTQIA+SB rights in Australia.

As outlined above, we do not consider that the use of pronouns, or providing links to information about the use of pronouns, conflicts with our ability to handle complaints independently and impartially.

Media enquiries

Media play an essential role in ensuring transparency and accountability in public systems and decision-making.

Please note that due to our legislation’s privacy and confidentiality provisions, we generally cannot provide information about individual complaints.

For all media enquiries and requests, email media@nhpo.gov.au. 

Attribution

The Ombudsman and Commissioner is accountable for the actions and decisions of our office. We therefore request that actions or decisions are attributed to this role. For example, this may include references to the Ombudsman and Commissioner’s name, the ‘Ombudsman’s office’ or the ‘Ombudsman’s report’. 

This approach helps ensure more junior or non-executive staff members avoid potential risks associated with their safety due to publication of their name, particularly when disclosure of their name is not necessary to ensure transparency and accountability.