According to a new study, a quarter of all complaints against doctors in private practice in Victoria are accounted for by a very small number of doctors.

Researchers at Melbourne University found 1% or less than 100 doctors belonging to the medical workforce in private practice, accounting for almost 20% of complaints.

For their study, the researchers examined the characteristics of doctors who had been repeatedly complained about by patients to the Health Services Commissioner of Victoria, between the years 2000 and 2009.

The findings of the study revealed, the complaints made were mostly against male, surgeons or psychiatrists that had trained in Australia and been in practise for 30 years, at least.

The complaints, according to the study’s lead researcher Dr. Marie Bismark from the University of Melbourne’s School of Population Health, seemed to clearly cluster around certain doctors.

She recommended these high-risk doctors be targeted and steered back towards safer practise, in order to improve patient satisfaction and public confidence in the health care system.

The researchers have had their study published in the Medical Journal of Australia.