Commonwealth legislation

Health Insurance Act 1973 - Declaration of Quality Assurance Activity under section 124X (QAA No. 4/2008)

RepealedCTH

This Act has been repealed and is no longer in force. It is retained for historical reference.

Jurisdiction

Commonwealth

Collection

legislative instrument

Plain English Summary

1/10 complexity

This document officially protects a patient safety program run by anaesthetists from being used against them in court.

What it covers: The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists runs a system that records when things go wrong during anaesthesia—such as bad drug reactions or equipment failures. The program analyses these incidents and warns other anaesthetists about new risks.

Why this matters: By 'declaring' this activity under the Health Insurance Act, any information collected for the program becomes legally privileged (protected). This means anaesthetists can report mistakes honestly without fear that lawyers will later force them to reveal those reports in lawsuits. This protection encourages doctors to be transparent about errors so they can learn from them and prevent similar incidents harming future patients.

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Current sections

Direct links to the current provisions in Health Insurance Act 1973 - Declaration of Quality Assurance Activity under section 124X (QAA No. 4/2008).

SCHEDULE

QAA No. 4/2008

DECLARED QUALITY ASSURANCE ACTIVITIES TO WHICH PART VC OF THE HEALTH INSURANCE ACT 1973 APPLIES

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Item Description of Quality Assurance Activity

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Organisation engaging in activity: The Australian and New Zealand College of Anaesthetists.

Title: The Australian and New Zealand Tripartate Anaesthetic Data Committee Incident Recording and Reporting Program.

Description: This Program will provide an enduring capability to capture, analyse and disseminate information regarding anaesthetic incidents in Australia and New Zealand. This will make anaesthetists aware of new problems associated with drugs, equipment or changes in clinical practice. This will help to prevent incidents recurring by working as an early warning system for practitioners. The program will also promote awareness of the current incident knowledge base.

Source text

Sourced from the Federal Register of Legislation (legislation.gov.au), CC BY 4.0.

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