Health Ombudsman v MacDonald

CITATION: Health Ombudsman v Macdonald  [2016] QCAT 473

PARTIES:	Health Ombudsman (Applicant)
v
Dorothy Macdonald (Respondent)

APPLICATION NUMBER: OCR043-16

MATTER TYPE:	Occupational regulation matters
HEARING DATE:	22 November 2016

HEARD AT: Brisbane

DECISION OF: Hon J B Thomas AM QC, Judicial Member
Assisted by:
Dr Jane Truscott
Mr Andrew Ian Urquhart
Mr Trevor Leslie Jordan

DELIVERED ON: 19 December 2016

DELIVERED AT: Brisbane

ORDERS MADE:

1.    A finding is recorded that the respondent on 1 August 2013 and on 16 January 2014 was guilty of professional misconduct in that she engaged in unprofessional conduct that was substantially below the standard reasonably expected of a registered health practitioner of an equivalent level.

2.    The respondent’s registration is suspended for a period of six months from the date of this order.

3.    The respondent is to pay the applicant Health Ombudsman’s costs of the proceedings as agreed, or as assessed by a costs assessor agreed upon by the parties, or in default of such agreement, as appointed by the Health Ombudsman, on the standard basis of the District Court scale of costs. 

CATCHWORDS:

PROFESSIONS AND TRADES – HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS – MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS – DISCIPLINARY PROCEEDINGS – PROFESSIONAL MISCONDUCT AND UNPROFESSIONAL CONDUCT – DEPARTURE FROM ACCEPTED STANDARDS – where respondent practitioner stole restricted drugs from her employer and was subsequently convicted of an offence relating to the conduct – where it is alleged and admitted that the practitioner engaged in professional misconduct – where a statement of agreed facts and joint proposal on sanction are submitted – whether the practitioner engaged in professional misconduct – whether the proposed sanction is appropriate

Barker v Queensland Health Department [2016] QCAT 230, considered
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Mahon [2014] VCAT 403, considered
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia v Antley [2016] QCAT, considered

Health Ombudsman Act 2013 (Qld), s 96(1), s 103(1)(a), s 107

REPRESENTATIVES:
APPLICANT:	Office of the Health Ombudsman for the applicant
RESPONDENT:	Lawler Magill for the respondent
APPEARANCES:

This matter was heard and determined on the papers pursuant to s 32 of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal Act 2009 (Qld) (“QCAT Act”).

REASONS FOR DECISION

Jurisdiction

1. This is a referral by the Health Ombudsman of complaints concerning the conduct of a registered nurse. The referral is made under s 103(1)(a) of the Health Ombudsman Act 2013 (Qld) (“HO Act”).

2. The conduct in question occurred in August 2013.  The respondent stole restricted drugs from her employer and was subsequently convicted of an offence relating to that conduct.

3. The original notifications concerning her conduct were given to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (“AHPRA”) in August 2013 which referred them to the Health Ombudsman in September 2014 under s 310(3) and s 310(4) of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (Qld) (“National Law”).

4. Those notifications are deemed to be complaints under the HO Act,[1] and they have now been referred to QCAT.

   [1]HO Act, s 36 and