Office of the Health Ombudsman
OrganisationReferenced in 15 bills
Health Transparency Bill 2019
This bill makes it easier for Queenslanders to compare the quality of hospitals and aged care facilities by creating a public reporting framework. It also sets minimum staffing levels in public aged care homes and reforms how health complaints are handled between the Health Ombudsman and the national regulator AHPRA.
Human Rights Bill 2018
This bill creates Queensland's first Human Rights Act, establishing 23 protected human rights and requiring all government entities to act compatibly with them. It adopts a 'dialogue model' where Parliament remains sovereign but courts can declare laws incompatible, and a renamed Queensland Human Rights Commission handles complaints from the public.
Health and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill amends eight health-related Acts to improve Queensland's health system. It strengthens protections for public health workers, modernises the Queensland Cancer Register to collect better data on cancer diagnosis and treatment, enables schools to share information with the children's vision screening program, and simplifies organ donation consent in private hospitals.
Health Legislation Amendment Bill 2019
This bill makes wide-ranging amendments across Queensland's health laws to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equity, ban conversion therapy by health service providers, strengthen collaboration across the public health system, and update private hospital accreditation requirements. It also repeals the redundant Pap Smear Register and makes administrative changes to the Queensland Mental Health Commission.
Land Access Ombudsman Bill 2017
This bill sets up a new independent Land Access Ombudsman to help landholders and resource companies resolve disputes about the agreements that govern mining, petroleum and gas activity on private land. It also gives the Land Court power to decide these disputes and preserves technical mining rules that were due to expire.
Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018
This bill decriminalises termination of pregnancy in Queensland by removing century-old Criminal Code offences and creating a new health-based legal framework. Based on 28 recommendations from the Queensland Law Reform Commission, it allows medical practitioners to perform terminations on request up to 22 weeks gestation, with clinical safeguards for later terminations. It also establishes safe access zones around clinics and protects women from criminal liability.
Health Legislation (Waiting List Integrity) Amendment Bill 2015
This bill would have made the Health Ombudsman the independent auditor of Queensland public hospital waiting times. Each Hospital and Health Service would have had to send quarterly data on surgery, dental and specialist waits to the Ombudsman, who would then audit it and publish a public report. The bill failed at its second reading and did not become law.
Public Health (Childcare Vaccination) and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2015
This bill lets Queensland childcare services refuse to enrol or exclude children who aren't up to date with their vaccinations, and protects operators from being sued for those decisions. It also gives the Health Ombudsman stronger powers to compel people to attend and answer questions during healthcare complaint investigations.
Health Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 3) 2025
This bill amends eight Queensland health Acts to fix implementation issues with the new fertility clinic regulatory framework, create a legal basis for organ donation procedures before circulatory death, require cosmetic surgery safety standards at private hospitals, and give the government broader powers to remove health board members. It is the third health legislation amendment bill for 2025.
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2017
This bill brings paramedics under Australia's national health registration scheme for the first time, meaning anyone calling themselves a paramedic must be registered and meet national standards. It also recognises nursing and midwifery as separate professions, gives regulators stronger powers to act quickly against practitioners who pose a public risk, and creates new offences (with fines up to $30,000) for deregistered practitioners who ignore prohibition orders.
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2024
This bill reforms the national system for regulating health practitioners in three key areas. It requires practitioners whose registration has been cancelled to go through a tribunal process before they can reapply, permanently publishes sexual misconduct findings on the public register, and creates new legal protections for people who report concerns about health practitioners.
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill
This bill reforms how health practitioners can regain their registration after being struck off, increases transparency about practitioners found guilty of sexual misconduct, and strengthens protections for people who report concerns about health practitioners. It amends the national health practitioner law that applies across all Australian states and territories, with Queensland-specific modifications for the co-regulatory role of the Health Ombudsman.
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 2022
This bill strengthens how Australia's health practitioner registration scheme protects the public. It makes public safety the paramount principle, creates new powers to stop unregistered people from providing health services, dramatically increases penalties for misleading health advertising, and embeds cultural safety for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as a guiding principle of the scheme.
Public Health (Medicinal Cannabis) Bill 2016
This bill creates a legal pathway for seriously ill Queenslanders to be treated with medicinal cannabis, while keeping all other cannabis use illegal. Doctors can apply to Queensland Health for approval to prescribe medicinal cannabis to a specific patient, or, in future, prescribe as-of-right if they belong to a class of specialists listed in a regulation. Pharmacists need a dispensing approval to hand it out, and patients, carers and institutions have clear rules about how to store and use it.
Hospital and Health Boards (Safe Nurse-to-Patient and Midwife-to-Patient Ratios) Amendment Bill 2015
This bill puts minimum nurse-to-patient and midwife-to-patient ratios into Queensland law for the first time. It amends the Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 so the government can legally require public hospitals to staff prescribed wards at set ratios, with the initial targets being 1 nurse or midwife for every 4 patients on day shifts and 1 for every 7 at night.