The first look into the criminal histories of 13,000 doctors, dentists, psychologists, nurses and pharmacists - many of whom were graduates and foreign medical professionals registering for the first time - has led to calls for further background checks.
There are 156,000 people working in NSW who have not been checked by police under the new system, which does not take into account driving infringements.
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The Minister for Health, Jillian Skinner, and the Australian Medical Association insist the industry is ''weeding out'' unsuitable people.But eyebrows have been raised by the findings of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency, the national body established last year to replace a patchwork of more than 80 medical boards around Australia.
Of the 13,421 medicos checked by NSW police at the request of the agency, 936 - or 7 per cent - were found to have ''disclosable court outcomes'' such as convictions for theft, fraud and sexual offences. The figure was slightly higher than the national average of 6 per cent.
