Public concerns about veterinary surgeons and specialists

What is unprofessional conduct?

Unprofessional conduct is defined in the Veterinary Practice Act 2003 (VP Act) to include the following:

  • improper or unethical conduct in relation to professional practice;
  • incompetence or negligence in relation to the provision of veterinary treatment;
  • a contravention of or failure to comply with
    • a provision of the VP Act; or
    • a code of conduct or professional standards prepared or endorsed by the Board under the VP Act; and
  • conduct that constitutes an offence punishable by imprisonment for one year or more under some other Act or law.

Please note that the VSBSA has no power under the VP Act to assess reports that relate to professional fees or charges for veterinary medicines or products. In addition, the VSBSA has no power under the VP Act to order veterinary surgeons to pay compensation to any party.

Who are your Vet Boards and what do they do?

Who are your Vet Boards?

What happens when a complaint is made?

What Can You Do Now?

What is the process?

How to notify us of your concerns

To notify VSBSA of a concern, you may complete a notification form and submit it on this website. If you would prefer to download the notification form and send it to us by mail, please post it to GPO Box 11020, Adelaide, 5001, or alternatively you may email it to admin@vsb.sa.gov.au.  If you cannot complete and submit the form, you can call us on 8359 3334.

Once we receive your notification:

  • the Registrar of the VSBSA will consider whether your notification raises concerns about the conduct or competence of a veterinary surgeon
  • The Registrar will confirm receipt of your notification and, if required, will seek further information from you
  • The Registrar will provide a copy of the notification to the veterinary surgeon and ask the veterinary surgeon to respond to the issues raised. If other veterinary surgeons were involved, the Registrar will request relevant information from those veterinary surgeons. Copies of patient records will also be requested.
  • You may be contacted by VSBSA staff to provide further information or relevant documentation.

If there is assessed to be a proper reason for disciplinary action:

  • The matter may be resolved with the veterinary surgeon (for example, the veterinary surgeon may complete a course of continuing education)
  • The Registrar may lay a complaint before the South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT) alleging that the veterinary surgeon is guilty of unprofessional conduct

If a complaint is laid before SACAT, you will be told, and you may be asked to attend a hearing to give evidence.

If SACAT determines that the veterinary surgeon is guilty of unprofessional conduct, sanctions may be imposed under the VP Act. Sanctions could range from a formal censure to disqualification from registration

Downloads

Links

Information to note

The confidentiality provision within the VP Act means the VSBSA will not be able to share with you information about the progress of assessment of a notification.

We will be unable to provide details of and reasons for the outcome of assessment, information about any subsequent investigation into the matter or the details or contents of any disciplinary action taken against a veterinary surgeon. However, if conditions are imposed on a veterinary surgeon’s registration or a veterinary surgeon is removed from the register(s), that information can be disclosed as a matter of public record.

South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT)

The VSBSA is here to help, and we urge you to contact us if you have concerns about the conduct of a veterinary surgeon. If for any reason you do not wish to lodge a complaint directly with the VSBSA or you are unsatisfied with the outcome of the VSBSA’s investigation, you can personally lay a complaint before South Australian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (SACAT). To lodge a complaint with SACAT, you will need to explain why you believe there is cause for disciplinary action against a veterinary surgeon.

If you lay a disciplinary complaint against a veterinary surgeon before SACAT, SACAT will consider your complaint. If SACAT pursues your complaint, you will be asked to attend the disciplinary hearing and present evidence in support of your complaint.

Information about lodging a professional disciplinary application (complaint) to SACAT is available at https://www.sacat.sa.gov.au/applications-and-hearings/how-to-apply-to-sacat .

If you have any questions or to find out more about how VSBSA can assist you, please call us on 8359 3334 or email: admin@vsb.sa.gov.au.

Working to ensure those in the profession achieve and maintain high professional standards of competence and conduct in their provision of veterinary treatment.

Correspondence Policy

We recommend using our postal address if your correspondence is sensitive and/or includes hard copy or confidential attachments (such as photos or documents). Please ensure you include a return postal address.

Our approach
When we perform our work, we aim to be fair, impartial, consistent, respectful, courteous.

How you can help us
To allow us to perform our work effectively and efficiently, we expect that you will familiarise yourself with our correspondence policy, give us accurate and complete information, treat us with respect and courtesy.

We aim to respond to correspondence, where required, within 20 working days of receipt.

Sometimes the matters raised in correspondence are complex and require detailed investigation in which case our response time will be longer.

There may be occasions where the issues you raise are outside our responsibilities. In this case we will refer you to the appropriate organisation or government department/agency. We encourage you to check to see if your issue is within our jurisdiction before you correspond with us. For example, if your enquiry relates to the ability of a veterinary surgeon to obtain, possess, prescribe or dispense Schedule 4 drugs, please direct your enquiry to the Office of the Chief Pharmacist: SAPharmacy@health.sa.gov.au. If your enquiry relates to the ability of a veterinary surgeon to obtain, possess, prescribe or dispense Schedule 8 drugs, please direct your enquiry to SA Health: HealthDrugsofDependenceUnit@sa.gov.au

We do not provide legal advice or personal advisory services to members of the community, veterinary services providers or veterinary surgeons.

We will only respond to items where we are the primary recipient. We will not respond to correspondence where we have been included as a carbon copy.

We will delete unsolicited advertisements without response.

We will not respond to correspondence containing offensive language or content.

We will forward any correspondence containing threatening content or advocating illegal activities to South Australia Police.

Your correspondence, once received, will become an official record of the Veterinary Surgeons Board of South Australia.