Newsletter

Do you know the three Ws of compound medicine?

In recent years there has been an increase in complaints about compounded medicines supplied by community pharmacies. These complaints relate to three W’s – who is making it, where (and in what conditions) is it being made and what exactly is in the compound medicine?...

Support for your wellbeing

The Doctor’s Health Advisory Service (DHAS ) provides a confidential phone back support service with the aim of ensuring every doctor and medical student in NSW has access to healthcare. DHAS Director Dr Timothy West explains how the service supports the mental health...

President's message: December 2020

The demands on our profession this year are no secret, even to the broader community. However, what may not be so obvious to many is that some of our colleagues are suffering. The increased demands on their practice, the heightened needs of patients, the struggle their...

Leaving medicine? What you need to know about patient records before you do

The decision to leave medicine is never easy but doctors who retire, sell their practice or are suspended still have record-keeping obligations under legislation and best-practice guidelines. This article answers common questions about records management when closing a...

Why are systems struggles impacting doctors and aged care patients?

Reports from the frontline indicate that well-intentioned GPs are drowning in a sea of double handling and mismatched records when it comes to providing medical care to residents of aged care facilities. Many GPs working in this space feel the system is broken and not...

President's message: July 2020

Communication is key in medicine. It’s critical in my ED and in every doctor-patient interaction but also frequently at the centre of complaints we receive at the Medical Council. Dr Charlotte Hespe highlights in her article (originally published in RACGP) the...

Meet Dr John Sammut – Medical Council President July 2020-June 2022

When Dr John Sammut joined the then NSW Medical Board as a health program assessor he had no ambition to become president. However, more than a decade later and after a number of roles with the Council, Dr Sammut was appointed president on 1 July 2020 for two years...

Circumstances change, good practice stays the same

From telehealth consultations to outdoor clinics , many of us are having to rapidly adapt the way we’ve been practising for years – and often decades – but while the settings and the tools may have changed, the basics of sound, holistic preventive healthcare have not...

Key messages from our Annual Report 2018/19

In the 2018/19 financial year, the Medical Council received 2,518 complaints about 2,051 doctors – just under 7% of registered medical practitioners in NSW. Complaints cover a variety of issues and can be made by not only the patient involved, but also by their family...

If the Medical Council calls, will I end up suspended?

A number of NCAT decisions have been featured in recent editions of our doctors' newsletter. However, most practitioners who come to the attention of the Medical Council do not end up at the Tribunal. We explore a more common practitioner interaction with the Council...

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