Documents from the 2021 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) staff survey,obtained by this masthead under freedom of information laws,revealed a “significant positive trend” in some results,such as technology,learning,development and connection to its mission and values.
AHPRA’s 2021 staff survey shows signs of improvement,but persistent problems with bullying and workload.The Age
However,the most prominent negative attitudes among the 1141 staff surveyed related to recruitment processes,respect in the workplace and faith in the regulator’s national executive leadership team,which includes the chief executive Martin Fletcher,who has been in the role for 13 years.
This masthead has previously revealed systemic deficiencies in AHPRA’s operations,including towards First Nations patients and practitioners,,, and of sexual harassment.
In a separate report breaking down the findings,employees who felt that the national executive team were “good role models for staff” was 15 per cent lower than industry average and were 24 per cent less likely to believe AHPRA was good at selecting the right people for the right jobs.
The survey found a 17 per cent improvement between 2018 and 2021 in the prevention of workplace bullying and abusive behaviour,although these experiences remained.
Fifteen per cent of respondents reported one or more kinds of bullying,either currently or in the past,with most common experiences being incivility (defined as demeaning remarks,talking down to each other),verbal abuse,intimidation and/or threats.
Seven per cent of respondents reported experiencing discrimination,most commonly related to employment activity,such as communicating concerns or requesting information,followed by age,parent status,race and sex.
Nine per cent reported experiencing sexual harassment,including sexually suggestive comments or jokes,intrusive questions about private lives,comments about physical appearance and inappropriate staring or leering. Only 2 per cent of experiences resulted in a formal complaint.
The review of AHPRA’s culture was completed by an organisation called the Voice Project,following concerns about and that investigators claim put the public and health workers at risk. An invoice showed AHPRA paid $53,663.50 for the survey.
In text responses,staff highlighted a marked improvement in work/life balance enabled by working-from-home arrangements during COVID. Staff also praised the organisation’s mission and values,with one employee saying AHPRA was “helping protect the public” and “starting to explicitly display the values”.
“The majority of AHPRA are good people with the desire to do good work,” said another respondent.
“AHPRA is doing well to keep things running during COVID-19 and my team has continued to meet KPIs regardless of outside circumstances.”
However,there remained a pervasive feeling that reform is not being handled well,with one employee noting “change is happening,albeit very slowly”. Most people said workload (17 per cent) was the most important issue that needs addressing,described as “unrelenting”,“sustained” and “excessive”.
“Staffing levels need to increase to reflect increasing workloads,” one respondent said.
“Caseloads are too high and do not take into consideration the complexity that is dealing with people who are extremely anxious about their career and livelihoods,” said another.
The text responses also indicated AHPRA’s workplace culture was falling short,with staff reporting rudeness,unfairness,harassment and conflict. “There is an undertone of casually sexist and racist banter in the office,” said one respondent.
“Managers with a history of bullying continue to be in management positions,” said another.
Staff called for an improvement in efforts to reform within AHPRA,describing a “reluctance to change” and “reluctance to acknowledge past failures/shortcoming and fix them”.
Lack of resources within the regulator was causing staff to feel “very burnt out”,made worse by a “blame culture”,with one respondent claiming staffing has never been adequate to deal with the increasing workload. “Resourcing! We need more people!,” they responded.
The report’s authors recommended AHPRA build confidence in its national executive and senior leadership through “increased visibility and communication” and ensure management show staff they “appreciate the work they do and understand any concerns they have”.
They also recommended AHPRA review and streamline existing processes and systems “to ensure they are well-designed,consistent,and aligned with people’s tasks”,and suggested a “culture of respect” be strengthened by investigating staff concerns thoroughly.
Many health insurers froze or deferred premium increases during the pandemic but soon the cost for private health care will increase.
A spokesman for AHPRA said the regulator and national boards were committed to a “safe,inclusive and supportive workplace” and pointed to the 17 per cent improvement on cultural metrics across the board.
“We are pleased to see that we are on the right path but are committed to always improving,” the spokesman said.
He added a number of changes had been made within AHPRA since 2018,including engaging a workplace expert to identify underlying issues and providing “vicarious trauma training” to frontline staff.
The hybrid work model had also continued,the spokesman said,and there were further changes being made to improve operations,including training for senior leaders,a comprehensive review of policies and procedures and cultural safety training to 1600 staff and board members.
Health Minister Mark Butler in February to reform AHPRA’s processes,and Fletcher has called for to better protect the public.
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