Post Archive - November 2016 - Panetta McGrath Lawyers

Aged Care Law Reforms - Home Care Packages and Exit Fees

Reforms to Aged Care legislation taking effect from 27 February 2017 will see home care packages moving with the consumer if they change home care providers. These reforms are part of the first stage of the Commonwealth Government’s reforms to the home care system. Under the current system, home care places are allocated to individual providers to deliver services in a particular location or region....

Accreditation to work at private hospital does not give rise to a contract

The anaesthetist, who had worked at the Hospital for many years, claimed he had been bullied by two nurses at the Hospital in 2013 and 2014 and, as a consequence of his complaint to hospital management, he lost the opportunity to work on a particular surgery list conducted by another doctor. Prior to his complaint a significant portion of his work at the hospital was as anaesthetist to this surgeon....

AHPRA Annual Report for 2015/16

Highlights of the past year include: There were about 20,000 new registrants in the past year, with a total of 65,274 applications for registrations received across all professions., There was a tightening of the criminal history checking process, resulting in the restricted registration of ten practitioners and refusal of one registration., Renewal processes were improved, by updating correspondence ...

Notifiable Data Breaches – New reporting obligations proposed for entities under the Privacy Act

The Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Bill 2016 (‘the Bill’) was introduced in the Australian Parliament on 19 October 2016 and is currently before the House of Representatives. The Bill proposes mandatory data breach notification provisions for agencies, organisations and other entities already regulated under the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) (‘the Act’). The Bill is ...

Does a practitioner’s mental illness automatically mean impairment?

The practitioner had a long history of mental illness, with periods of hospitalisation and community treatment orders (CTO) dating back to 1998. She suffered from a serious chronic psychotic disorder characterised by paranoid delusions and disorganised behaviour. As a result of her illness, various conditions had been imposed on her registration during periods between 1999 to 2012. Most recently, ...

Epilepsy intervention study leads to $1.6M payout

The patient suffered from epilepsy due to an antenatal stroke. At age 21, she underwent telemetry testing to determine her eligibility for surgical intervention. The testing required her brain activity to be monitored during a seizure. Whilst under Hospital care and supervision, a seizure was induced through medication withdrawal and sleep deprivation. At 4:03am on 5 January 2010, the patient commenced a seizure episode which lasted for two hours and 44 minutes....

The duty of the court to self-represented litigants

In late 2008, the applicant noticed swelling on the left side of his face and neck extending along the jaw line to a point near the left ear. Following an ultrasound examination, the applicant was referred to hospital. He attended the hospital on 12 February 2009 and was examined by Mr Chan, an ENT surgeon. Fine needle aspiration of the lump was performed and a diagnosis made of “features suggest abscess”....

Professional Services Review Annual Report 2015-16

In 2015/16 there was an increase in the number of investigations of Chronic Disease Management and MBS Health Assessment items. Many practitioners providing high numbers of these services were found to use computer-generated templates leading to plans with minimal content specific to the patient for whom it had been prepared. Further, some team care arrangement plans were made without ...

Can emails be legally binding?

What will the court look for? When determining whether or not there is a binding contract the court will look objectively at the broader context of the emails and the intention of the parties, including: whether there is any indication that the parties intended to be bound immediately;, whether there is reference to a formal contract and intention to formally sign one; and, whether offer and acceptance of a contract can be read into the emails....

Fake Nurse convicted and ordered to pay over $40,000

Two separate actions were brought against Nicholas Crawford by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, one in Queensland and one in Western Australia in relation to 14 offences arising from his falsely claiming to be a registered health professional. Mr Crawford pleaded guilty to ‘holding himself out’ as a registered nurse in Queensland and using the protected titles of ‘nurse’ and ‘registered nurse’....

Considering entering a medical practice lease? Here are some key things to consider.

What you should think about before entering into a medical centre lease Considering establishing a medical practice? An important step will be finding suitable premises from where to operate, which usually involves entering into a lease of a medical centre. Entering into a commercial lease is an integral part of setting up and operating a medical practice, and it is crucial you get this right both ...

Post Archive - November 2016

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