Information for doctors and healthcare workers
We can investigate allegations that an adult with impaired decision-making ability:
- is being abused or neglected (including self-neglect), and/or
- has decision-making arrangements that aren’t suitable or safe.
Medical practitioners and other healthcare workers are often in an ideal position to detect abuse due to its impacts on the victim’s physical, mental and/or emotional wellbeing.
We rely on people like you to ask us to investigate, so we can protect the adult from further harm.
As part of an investigation, we may ask you to provide information to help us verify the allegation and/or ask you to assess a person’s decision-making ability (regardless of whether you asked us to investigate).
What should you do if you have concerns?
Follow these steps if you think, or know, a patient of yours is being abused:
1. Talk to your practice manager or supervisor. They may decide to raise your concerns with the patient’s family, who might be able to resolve the problem informally.
2. If the issue can’t be resolved informally, anyone can apply to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) to:
- appoint a guardian or administrator to make personal or financial decisions for your patient (if they don’t have a substitute decision-maker).
- revoke your patient’s substitute decision-maker’s appointment and replace them with someone else (if the substitute decision-maker is the person harming them.)
3. If these steps don’t resolve the issue, you can contact us to request an investigation or find out who else can help.
Abuse and violence guideline
If you’re a General Practitioner (GP), you may want to refer to the Abuse and violence: Working with our patients in general practice guideline.
Published by the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP), the guideline can help you recognise, assess, and manage any abuse or violence your patients may be experiencing.
How do you request an investigation?
If the patient you’re concerned about meets our investigation eligibility criteria, you can request an investigation.
You don't need you to provide proof, but the more information you can give us in your request, the better. There is information you will need to consider before you request an investigation.
How can you support our investigations?
If we’re investigating alleged abuse or neglect of one of your adult patients, it’s likely we’ll ask you for information to help us substantiate the allegation (e.g. their medical history). We may also ask you to provide us with a Health Professional report regarding the adult’s decision-making ability (capacity).
If we ask you for information or a report, please respond as quickly as you can.
Delays in providing this information could slow down our investigation and leave the person at risk of further harm. We’re unable to pay for capacity assessments.
We’re unable to pay for capacity assessments.
Capacity-assessment guidelines
If we ask you to complete a Health Professional report, you may wish to refer to the Queensland Capacity Assessment Guidelines 2020.
The guidelines provide general information about capacity, capacity assessment, and the legal tests of capacity in Queensland.
Other healthcare professionals concerned about an adult’s ability to make decisions can also use these guidelines.
What if a patient doesn’t have anyone making decisions for them?
We also investigate allegations of inadequate decision-making arrangements for adults with impaired decision-making ability.
If you suspect one of your adult patients has impaired decision-making ability and they don’t have an attorney, a guardian and/or administrator making decisions for them and need decisions to be made for them, you can request an investigation.
What if a patient with decision-making ability is being coerced?
A patient of yours may have decision-making ability but is being pressured, threatened or intimidated by someone else (e.g. a partner or spouse) to act against their will.
If you’re worried this is happening, there may be other organisations who can help.