Convicted child sex offender Frankie Allan Bailey permanently banned from practice after posing as doctor, treating 9yo boy

Health authorities have taken permanent action against a convicted child sex offender after he illegally treated a nine-year-old boy while posing as a doctor. The NSW Health Care Complaints Commission has issued a permanent ban for Frankie Allan Bailey, operating as Doctor Allan Bailey at Southwest Mental Health Centre, following an investigation into his professional conduct with a school-aged boy. In 2009, the 60-year-old was convicted of five counts of sexual intercourse with a child, having molested a 16-year-old child at St Andrew’s Christian College in Grafton where he was headmaster. He was further convicted in 2010 of aggravated sexual assault of a 14-year-old who was again a student attending a school where he was headmaster. Bailey served custodial sentences for his crimes and was placed on the Child Protection Register, requiring him to report to police and barring him from having any contact with a person under 18. He breached his reporting obligations on three occasions and was sentenced to imprisonment in 2021 but released the next year. Upon his release, Bailey was working as an non-registered health practitioner offering mental health support. The convicted child sex offender offered his services as a “senior psychotherapist” and “counsellor”, claiming to specialise in trauma, addictions, parenting support, self-harm, post-natal depression, cognitive analytic therapy, and dialectical behaviour therapy. While he held a doctorate of science education from 2003, Bailey held no formal medical or health-related qualifications; with the Commission finding he was misleading patients by painting himself as a doctor and health expert. In 2024, the Commission received notice from NSW Police that Bailey had been arrested after providing medical services to a nine-year-old boy. Investigators found the boy’s mother contacted Bailey requesting mental health support for her son. The non-registered practitioner proceeded to diagnose the boy over the phone and asked the child attend an appointment with him alone, although his mother did not comply. Bailey then met with the child and his mother and advised he could perform a specialised analysis called electroencephalography (EEG) at their next appointment, despite not having formal training to do so. In May 2025, he pleaded guilty to five counts of failing to comply with reporting obligations. The Commission also received a separate complaint in 2023 regarding Bailey’s alleged work with children; however, the complaint was unsubstantiated. At the time, Bailey advised he would close his clinic, Southwest Counselling, due to “harassment” from the public; however, he subsequently recommenced work under a different business name: Southwest Mental Health Centre. In an interview with police in 2024, Bailey told officers he knew he could not obtain membership with the Australian Counselling Association as they require a Working With Children check, but added he knew he did not need specific qualifications to be a counsellor. He told police he no longer used his first name in his work as he did not want potential clients to learn of his convictions for child sex offences. “Well I don’t want my clients to Google me,” he said. The Commission found Bailey had breached the code of conduct by failing to provide ethical health services in a safe and ethical manner, misrepresented himself and providing care outside his experience and training. They ordered Bailey be permanently prohibited from providing any health services, paid or voluntary, to any member of the public, effective from April 16, 2026.