Risk Management

The Risk Management Committee

Established in 2004, the APA Risk Management Committee includes representatives from the APA as well as insurance and legal representatives from Guild.

The brief of the Committee is to identify trends in complaints against registered physiotherapists with a view to alerting the profession to risk ‘hot spots’.  The APA representatives on the Committee, Cris Massis, James Fitzpatrick, Leigh McCutcheon, Aidan Rich, Cherie Hearn, Matthew Dobeli,Debra Shirley and Susan Vincent, provide expert clinical advice on areas such as informed consent, therapeutic exercise and the risk of exacerbating an existing condition.

The Committee has commissioned regular risk management related articles (see Article Library) and has established a link between the Research and Quality Practice section of the APA website and Guild’s new online risk management tool, Riskequip for Physiotherapy.

Riskequip for Physiotherapy

For any physiotherapist, or physiotherapy practice, there's a variety of risks that have to be managed in providing a professional service.

Riskequip has been developed by Guild to provide access to information that will assist physiotherapists in identifying and managing their business and professional risks. Riskequip consolidates the range of risk management materials produced to date, including information on your risks, articles, links, and self check question and answer surveys. Click Here to access Riskequip for Physiotherapy.

Useful articles

• [download A patient complaint – deal with it! (Mar 2005?) here]
• [download Expert evidence (Apr 2005) here]
• [download Physiotherapists exposed in public (Jul 2005) here]
• [download Treating your legal obligations with care (Nov 2005) here]
• [download Who’s monitoring your security (Dec 2005) here]
• [download Teamwork provides best results (Apr 2006) here]
• [download Don’t slip up with patient safety (Jun 2006) here]
• [download Pneumothorax following acupuncture (Jul 2006) here]
• [download Outgrown your insurance? (Apr 2007) here]
• [download An Enduring Power of Attorney (May 2007) here]
• [download Managing your risk (Jun 2007) here]
• [download Subpoenas: obligations of health practitioners (Jul 2007) here]
• [download Are you liable for the actions of other physiotherapists? (Aug 2007) here]
• [download For the record (Sep 2007) here]
• [download Knowing when to say sorry (Oct 2007) here]
• [download Manage your risks (Dec 2007) here]
• [download Protecting your greatest assets (Feb 2008) here]
• [download Reception & Unattended Children (Feb 2008) here]
• [download Good news for PI Insurance Premiums (Mar 2008) here]
• [download Business succession: are you prepared? (May 2008) here]
• [download Sexual discrimination and harassment within the physiotherapy practice (May 2009) here]
• [download Incident reporting, complaints and board inquiries (June 2009) here]