ACT healthcare professionals were accused of inappropriate sexual behaviour or misconduct 18 times in the last year.
People complained about medical practitioners eight times. There were four allegations made against psychologists and three against nurses.
A Chinese medicine practitioner, physiotherapist and pharmacist were all subject to one complaint.
The ACT saw a drop in sexual misconduct complaints compared to the previous two years, but there has been a significant increase in the last decade.
Sexual misconduct allegations rise
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) has added 10 full-time staff to its specialist investigation team to address the increase in sexual harassment allegations.
Greater awareness of sexual assault and abuse may be behind the increase in complaints, Shine Lawyers special counsel Tom Wallace-Pannell said.
"This sort of conduct has always been occurring, but there's a much greater willingness for people to come forward, I think," the Canberra-based abuse lawyer said.
"There's much more of a realisation or acceptance that these things shouldn't be happening and awareness that there are avenues available for complaints."
'No place for sex'
Australians made 841 complaints about boundary violations - unethical or criminal behaviour of a sexual nature - in 2022-23.
That is more than double the number of complaints made three years ago.
Boundary violations include inappropriate remarks or touching, pursuing or maintaining personal relationships with patients, and sexual violence.
Mr Wallace-Pannell said he had seen medical practitioners misuse patients' private details.
Common complaints made by Australians in 2021-22 included:
- Inappropriate remarks made in person or online;
- Non-consensual touching;
- Inappropriate physical contact;
- Sexual offending, rough examinations; and
- Sexual violence or harassment.
Ahpra's codes of conduct state doctors and other registered health professionals should never establish or pursue a sexual relationship with anyone in their care, including a patient's carer, spouse or parent.
Flirting, sexual remarks, unnecessary or non-consensual physical examinations and relationships with former patients breach the medical practitioner code.
"There is no place for sex in the doctor-patient relationship," the guidelines state.
There can be a significant power imbalance between patients and medical practitioners because the patient needs the professional for treatment, Mr Wallace-Pannell said.
"There's an acceptance that what the medical practitioner says ... needs to be done is correct because there is that knowledge imbalance between the two," he said.
Sexual misconduct an 'ongoing issue'
People have made 138 boundary violation complaints against Canberra practitioners since 2012-23.
The trend over 10 years shows more Canberra patients are coming forward to complain about alleged inappropriate behaviour from medical professionals.
Mr Wallace-Pannell said abuse by healthcare workers was "an ongoing issue and concern", adding cases he comes across often involve physical abuse.
"We quite regularly get inquiries and run matters involving misconduct by medical practitioners," he said.
"It has a long-lasting impact, it impacts [victims] quite often for the rest of their lives."
Professions most likely to receive complaints
Of the 925 complaints made about boundary violations in 2021-22, Australia-wide, 43 per cent were against medical practitioner.
A quarter of complaints were about nurses, and 13 per cent about psychologists.
However, this data may be misleading, as more people could be registered in those professions.
Of complaints made against osteopaths nationwide, one in five were boundary violations.
About one in 10 complaints against medical radiation practitioners, psychologists, physiotherapists and Chinese medical practitioners were about sexual misconduct.
These professions may receive fewer complaints overall.
Results of complaints
Australia-wide, Ahpra received more than 10,000 complaints in 2021-22. This does not just include boundary violations.
There was no action taken in two-thirds of cases.
However, the regulator did investigate boundary violation allegations twice as often as other complaints.
Half of the alleged sexual misconduct cases nationwide were closed after an investigation, while just over 40 per cent were closed at assessment.
In 29 per cent of cases, the practitioners were immediately suspended. In 4.3 per cent of cases, they had their registration suspended, surrendered or cancelled.
Consequences for sexual misconduct was an important deterrent for medical practitioners, Mr Wallace-Pannell said.
"It's safe to say that he it is perhaps concerning that there are so many matters where action is not taken," he said.
"I certainly encourage people [for whom] that is the case [to] get advice from from a lawyer, because there might be other action that can be taken."
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