Formal complaints and disciplinary proceedings involving medical practitioners: recent developments in New South Wales, Australia.

Complaints against medical practitioners are of interest to all the stakeholders in health care who are concerned with quality assurance and its definition, implementation and monitoring. New South Wales,Australia, has recently made statutory provision for independent structures of complaint investigation and resolution, including revised disciplinary proceedings to protect the public interest and regulate the conduct of the state's medical profession. This article discusses the new mechanisms and recent experience of them. They are intended to offer independence and an integrated and comprehensive system of grievance procedures but there remains a need for disciplinary procedures that afford lay control over the regulation of medical conduct.