Speak Out August 2013

Professional Practice News

Our professional responsibility to our colleagues should be held in high esteem

I n 2011/2012 the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) received 7,594 notifications (i.e. complaints) about health practitioners. Happily this equates to only approximately 1.2% of the 548,528 registered health practitioners. However, what really caught our interest in the AHPRA Annual Report (really interesting reading for those of you who would like more information about which professions complaints were made against and why) was that a large number of these complaints were made by other practitioners. Now, rightly so we hear you say. If someone is doing the wrong thing then they should be reported to the appropriate authority, and we agree. However, what we are hearing at Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) is that some of those complaints were vexatious and may have been motivated more by professional jealousy or commercial rivalry than a desire to protect the community, and that got us thinking. In our years as speech pathologists we have been proud of the fact that there is a strong sense of support and camaraderie between colleagues and we would hate to see an erosion of this professional standard resulting in vexatious complaints being made against colleagues for personal gain. Sadly we are noticing at SPA an increase of examples where this professional standard has not been upheld. This includes situations where a speech pathologist has: • Spoken disparagingly to a client or another professional about a colleague or the service they provide; • Posted a negative and/or unsupportive comment on social media; • Advertised in a way that undermines a colleague’s practice or service; • Not expressed concerns with an employer or colleague (where appropriate) before making a complaint to SPA or others; • Attempted to obtain clientele from a colleague or a previous employer (without consultation); • Set up a private practice adjacent to or next door to a previous employer (without notification); • Worked for an employer to gain experience or knowledge and then set up a practice in competition; • Not given appropriate notice of intention to leave a practice; • Not completed all work or to an appropriate standard required prior to leaving a practice; • Photocopied or used resources, including assessment tools, without an employer’s knowledge or permission;

• Employed or engaged colleagues in a way that is not legal and doesn’t meet their legal obligations re leave and other entitlements (i.e. contractor or casual when they should be employed as a permanent part-timer); • Employed or engaged staff in a way that is exploitive (i.e. seeing an unrealistic number of clients per day); • Not advised a client of another service available to them because it is provided by a competitor or by an alternate sector (i.e. public sector not referring to private and vice versa). Now we are sure you will all agree that in most instances the speech pathologist may not have done anything illegal and there is always going to be two sides to every story. We do believe, however, that all of our dealings with our colleagues must be conducted with the utmost integrity and we must take personal responsibility for our actions. It should also be highlighted that some of the situations reported to SPA have not just been lapses in professional conduct or standards, or for that matter personality clashes, but unprofessional behaviour which has been a potential breach of SPA’s Code of Ethics (2010). It is timely to remind all SPA members that as members we agree to read, understand and apply the Code of Ethics (the Code) within all our professional interactions. So, how can we maintain the highest professional standards in our dealings with our colleagues and meet our obligations to uphold the values, principles and standards of the Code? Our advice would be to read the Code and in particular take note of of Section 3.4, ‘Duties to our Colleagues’ where it states:

We treat our colleagues with honesty, fairness, respect and good faith. We work collaboratively with colleagues… We support our colleagues… We do not exploit our relationships with our colleagues…

We urge you to keep these principles in mind at all times when dealing with colleagues and if a situation arises discuss your concerns with your colleague. If, however, you are unable to resolve your differences or need advice then seek the assistance of your manager or human resources department (where applicable) or contact either of us to discuss. Christina Wilson Senior Advisor Professional Issues Christine Lyons Senior Advisor Professional Practice

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Speak Out August 2013

Speech Pathology Australia