Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency
Agency overview
Formed1 June 2010 (2010-06-01), 18 October 2010 (2010-10-18) for Western Australia[1]
JurisdictionCommonwealth of Australia
Agency executives
  • Martin Fletcher[2], CEO
  • Chris Robertson, Executive Director, Strategy and Policy
  • Kym Ayscough, Executive Director, People and Culture
  • Clarence Yap, Chief Information Officer
  • Liz Davenport, Chief Financial Officer
Websitewww.ahpra.gov.au

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), infrequently spelt as the Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency,[3] is a statutory authority founded in 2010 which is responsible, in collaboration with the Medical Board of Australia, for registration and accreditation of health professionals as set out in the Australian legislation called the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.[4][5][6] As of 2018, approximately 586,000 health professionals were registered with the AHPRA, containing 98,400 medical practitioners (which includes general practitioners, medical specialists and some hospital workers[5]), and 334,000 nurses and midwives.[4] This rose to 825,720 registered health professionals in 2021.[7]

The AHPRA is intended to facilitate public safety of health practice in Australia, and is used to assess the qualifications of overseas health practitioners.[1] According to the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, it is required to be registered with the AHPRA to self-identify with one of the "protected titles" set out in the legislation, and it is an offence to do so without registration.[1] The AHPRA maintains a public register of those registered and related qualifications accessible from their website.[8] The AHPRA is responsible for hearing and investigating complaints (which are legally termed "notifications"[6]) of "performance, health and conduct" by those registered.[8] The AHPRA is also responsible for hearing complaints about unregistered professions, which includes "unregistered health care workers who provide a health service", in violation of the National Code of Conduct for health care workers[9] by behaving in an incompetent, exploitative, predatory or illegal manner.[6]

Martin Fletcher has been the chief executive officer of the AHPRA since its inception.[2] According to a 2011 publication, "Australia is [sic] the first country in the world to have a national registration and accreditation scheme regulating health practitioners."[10]

  1. ^ a b c "Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency FAQ". Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  2. ^ a b "Ahpra Senior Managers". Medical Board of Australia. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  3. ^ "Australian Health Practitioners Regulation Agency". Tasmania legal aid. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  4. ^ a b "Health workforce". Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  5. ^ a b "Medical doctors and specialists in Australia". Department of Health (Australia). Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  6. ^ a b c "National Registration and Accreditation Scheme". Department of Health (Australia). Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  7. ^ "Ahpra in numbers". Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  8. ^ a b "Ahpra and the Boards". National Health Practitioner Ombudsman and Privacy Commissioner. Retrieved 2022-06-12.
  9. ^ "National Code of Conduct for health care workers" (PDF). Holistic Therapists Australia. Retrieved 2022-06-13.
  10. ^ Warnock, Jason; Banful, Ebenezer; Foley, Laurie; Gilheany, Mark; Hunter, Anne-Marie; Loughry, Cathy; Matthews, Helen; Russell, Joan; Tinley, Paul (2011-05-20). "The national registration and accreditation scheme". Journal of Foot and Ankle Research. 4 (S1). doi:10.1186/1757-1146-4-s1-i12. ISSN 1757-1146. PMC 3102918. S2CID 27227863.