What to do when you have received a complaint from AHPRA or the HCCC – important information for health practitioners
Published on June 23, 2025 by Tim Grellman
The work of thousands of registered health practitioners is regulated by organisations including:
- The HCCC (Health Care Complaints Commission); and
- AHPRA (Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency).
If you are a doctor, psychologist, nurse or otherwise work in the healthcare industry, it is likely that you or a colleague you know has been contacted by the HCCC and/or AHPRA at one time or another.
The HCCC and AHPRA regularly receive complaints from healthcare workers, patients and members of the public in relation to registered health practitioners. This results in an investigation being conducted in relation to the relevant healthcare worker involved.
Receiving a complaint from the HCCC and/or AHPRA can be incredibly stressful. Those organisations have the ability to suspend a practitioner from working and implement other sanctions as a result of their investigations.
That is why your response to a complaint or investigation is so important. In this article, we highlight what your response should generally include if you are contacted by these organisations.
Standard of proof – Briginshaw standard
The standard of proof in investigations by the HCCC and/or AHPRA is the civil standard. That is, the balance of probabilities.
Importantly though, in civil proceedings where serious allegations are made, more significant evidence and a higher degree of persuasion is required to establish critical facts.
This is often referred to as the “Briginshaw standard”, which is a reference to Briginshaw v Briginshaw in which the High Court of Australia judged that the balance of probabilities test should not be satisfied as a result of evidence such as “inexact proofs, indefinite testimony, or indirect references.”
Most complaints against healthcare professionals are serious. Often, a patient, staff member or member of the public has suffered as a result of the alleged misconduct. Consequences for the healthcare worker can be severe (including suspension of their registration). Evidence in these matters is often “grey”, opinion evidence and otherwise of limited reliability.
Given this, it is important to consider whether to assert to the HCCC and/or AHPRA that the Briginshaw standard ought to apply. This will help the healthcare worker by discouraging a finding of misconduct/substantiated allegations on evidence that is murky.
Seeking legal advice will help you determine whether or not to seek to rely on the Briginshaw standard in your response.
Full and proper response to allegations, including context
Next, it is important to take the time to carefully respond fulsomely to the allegations. The HCCC and AHPRA want to be comfortable that you are taking the matter seriously, and this is best shown by a full and proper response to the allegations in writing.
In healthcare matters, context is often critically important. For example, context may explain why an error was made or a misdiagnosis was given if that was the case. It is important to help AHPRA or the HCCC understand why an incident occurred. This means it is important to set out the context/factual matrix that led to the alleged misconduct (as well as responding to the allegations directly).
Submissions
A natural flow from the response to the allegations are submissions. It is important to make submissions to the HCCC or AHPRA as to what they should actually conclude, based on the evidence before them.
In this section of your response, you can link your response to the standard of proof. For example you can argue why, based on the evidence you have given, it could not be concluded on the balance of probabilities (potentially with the Briginshaw standard in mind) that the alleged misconduct occurred.
Reflection, remorse and contrition
Of course, alleged misconduct or impugned conduct should only be denied if you genuinely deny engaging in the alleged behaviour.
It will be harmful for your response to deny behaviour which you know to have occurred; this will reflect poorly on you in the eyes of the HCCC and/or AHPRA.
Given this, it is worthwhile acknowledging imperfect conduct if it occurred. Further, it is important to articulate how you have:
- Taken the complaint very seriously;
- Reflected on the incident in question;
- Have remorse and contrition for any wrongdoing on your part; and
- Are implementing strategies to rectify the issue.
On the fourth point, an example might be enrolment in or a commitment to future training to ensure an error does not occur again. Or, it could be a commitment to counselling sessions if that is required.
Reflection, remorse and contrition is a sign of maturity on the practitioner’s part. It is generally received favourably by the HCCC and AHPRA, depending on the gravity of the allegations against the practitioner.
As this article demonstrates, there are important aspects of a response to a complaint from AHPRA or the HCCC that could significantly impact your career. We recommend getting in touch so we can assist you to prepare the strongest response possible.
Please note that this article does not constitute legal advice. If you are seeking professional advice on any legal matters, you can contact Carroll & O’Dea Lawyers on 1800 059 278 or via our Contact Page and one of our lawyers will be able to assist you.
