MEDIA RELEASE
31 May 2002
Quality health care is what counts
The Council of Trade Unions supports the Minister of Health's removal of mandatory reporting from the Health
Practitioners' Competence Assurance Bill.
"Health workers, like other members of the public, strongly support measures
that increase levels of patient safety and the quality of health care," said CTU president Ross Wilson.
“But, while some groups have thought mandatory reporting would help achieve this goal, workplace experience and research
both show that this is unlikely.”
Ross Wilson said that a work environment that encourages open discussion of issues, including mistakes, was much more
effective.
“Mandatory reporting would have discouraged health workers from talking to each other about problems, and working
together to solve them," he said.
"This Bill now focuses on the most important issue - improving the quality
of health care for us all.
“The CTU hopes that other groups will also take the opportunity offered by the Select Committee process to work towards
this goal.”
Ross Wilson said that mandatory reporting was likely to be unworkable on a
practical level, and could cut across well-established workers' rights
during disciplinary processes.
ENDS