Ahpra update for members

AMA Queensland member concerns

MBA letters to doctors without a CPD home

The Medical Board of Australia sent letters to doctors without a CPD home advising of the requirement, however, some recipients already had a CPD home and the letter caused undue stress. AMA Queensland enquired of the reason for the error with Ahpra – for example, whether recipients did not check a relevant box on the application for registration.

Ahpra response: The MBA asked the question [about whether the practitioner had a CPD home] so they could focus our communications more effectively on those who don’t/may not have a CPD home. The MBA is keen to ensure that doctors are aware of their obligations so that they can meet them. The purpose of the question was so that they could write doctors who told us they didn’t have a CPD home or didn’t tell us they had one. Please be assured it had no regulatory implications in 2024.

We think that many doctors tried to answer the question but didn’t save it so their name went into the ‘no answer’ bucket. We were keen to ensure that practitioners could finish the registration process without being held up by this question given that they won’t need to report on their CPD home until 2025. We have had feedback that a number of doctors have just realised as a result of this direct communication that they need to get their CPD sorted.

What are the current timeframes for the expedited pathway to registration?

Ahpra response: 4 to 6 weeks for complete applications.

Cultural safety programs for SIMGs

AMA Queensland noted SIMGs require a lot of support both professionally and personally especially with their different cultural background and enquired if the MBA could provide any advice on cultural safety and other programs.

Ahpra response: Two cultural safety courses have been approved by the Medical Board as suitable for meeting cultural safety education requirements. Visit Cultural safety education requirements for specialist registration.

MBA update

Ahpra provided the following update on relevant MBA matters.

• Dr Anne Tonkin’s tenure on the Medical Board of Australia finishes in mid-December 2024. Health Ministers are yet to announce the new MBA chair and members going forward.   
• The recent MBA newsletter is online at Medical Board newsletters.
• The Expedited Specialist pathway is now open for eligible general practice specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs). GPs with international specialist qualifications from Ireland, New Zealand and the United Kingdom that are included on the Board’s Expedited Specialist pathway: accepted qualifications list can apply now.
• The first application of a medical practitioner on the expediated pathway was considered by Board this week. As part of the process, the practitioner has conditions and has time to respond to those conditions.
• Health checks for late-career doctors—the MBA received over 200 submissions to the consultation about possible health checks for late-career doctors. The consultation is now closed, and the MBA is now carefully looking at that feedback. The submissions in the months ahead – this process takes time as we have to make sure we meet requests for confidentiality and redact personal contact details. Deciding on next steps will take time.
• The MBA registration standards for the four types of limited registration and guidelines for short term training will commence review in the next short while.  State and Territory Boards and/or Registration Committees are invited to provide early feedback to inform the development of revised standards and guidelines for Medical Board consideration and then subsequent stakeholder consultation.
• MBA registration data at 30 September 2024 is at Medical Board statistics.

Ahpra update

• The Ahpra Board and National Executive convened their regular meeting in Brisbane on 12 November. The Board, executive, Health Ombudsman and Brisbane staff were able to farewell Martin Fletcher at a celebratory morning tea.
• A Co-regulatory (Ahpra, OHO, HCCC, HPCA) Joint statement on family violence is due to be released within the next two weeks. This will be shared with the AMAQ.
• The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Strategy Group have met on 13 November to commence a review of the National Scheme's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Cultural Safety Strategy 2020-2025.
•  Martin Fletcher CEO and Jamie Orchard General Counsel attended a Senate Estimates Community Affairs Hearing Thursday 7 November. The transcript is published at Parliament of Australia Estimates Transcript Schedule.

Ahpra annual report 2023-24

On 12 November, the 2023/24 annual report of Ahpra and the National Boards was tabled in the Parliament of South Australia and subsequently published on the Ahpra website.

The theme of this year’s report is ‘Leadership and collaboration for safer healthcare’. It reflects two areas of focus: responding quickly to emerging areas of public risk and playing our part fully to address workforce needs.

• 920,535 health practitioners were registered in Australia on 30 June 2024, which is 4.9% more than at the same time in 2023 and the biggest increase in four years.
  • 96.9% held practising registration.
  • 70,216 practitioners were registered for the first time.
• 19,522 notifications were made about 15,078 health practitioners Australia-wide, 14.2% more than last year. Just 1.6% of all registered health practitioners received a notification. 
• 547 criminal offence complaints were received, 23.8% more than last year; 14 prosecutions were completed in the criminal courts; 180 practitioners had cases decided by tribunals.
• A landmark ruling under the National Law in October 2023 saw a tribunal rule against a doctor over his discriminatory, culturally unsafe, insulting and offensive behaviour towards a Yuggera, Warangoo and Wiradjuri man. The doctor was reprimanded and disqualified for 12 months. This outcome reflected changes made in 2022 to strengthen the National Law to eliminate racism from Australian healthcare.
• Streamlined registration processes for international applicants reduced the time to finalise international applications from a 60-day average to just 33 days. A new exam centre was opened for internationally qualified nurses and midwives, reducing wait times.
• New models of care in areas such as medicinal cannabis and vaping have led Ahpra to develop cross-regulatory solutions with other regulators, including the Therapeutic Goods Administration, to take a system-wide approach to patient safety. By leading collaborative efforts to address emerging issues, Ahpra aims to get ahead of these concerns and ensure all health practitioners continue to put patients first.

To view and download the 2023/24 annual report and supplementary data tables, visit the Ahpra website. National Board summaries and profession-specific data tables are also available on each Board website.

Independent Accreditation Committee consulting on guidance on developing professional capabilities

The Independent Accreditation Committee for the National Scheme is consulting on draft guidance on developing professional capabilities. The committee provides independent and expert advice on accreditation reform and other National Scheme accreditation matters. You can read more about its focus on the committee’s Ahpra webpage.

The knowledge, skills and professional attributes required to practise as a registered health practitioner in Australia can be called professional capabilities. The draft guidance and more information about the consulting is on the Accreditation Committee’s Consultation page until 18 October 2024.

The Unleashing the Potential of our Health Workforce – Scope of Practice Review Final Report

Independent reviewer Mark Cormack released his report on 5 November looking at the systemic changes and practical improvements needed to support health professionals to work to their full scope of practice. The reports is at The Department of Health and Aged Care, publications. 

Final report recommendation themes:

• Theme 1: workforce design, development, education and planning
• Theme 2: legislation and regulation
• Theme 3: funding and payment policy

Review of complexity in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme

The Review of complexity in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme led by the former NSW Health Care Complaints Commissioner Sue Dawson is progressing. Ahpra is to provide a more detailed submission early in December with a preliminary report to be provided to Health Minister late-December 2024.

Six terms of reference outline the scope of the review. These will consider:

• how to streamline and harmonise decision-making to improve consistency in regulation
• how to make complaints management more consumer-driven, consistent, accessible and efficient
• how to make tribunal decision-making more consistent
• stewardship of the National Scheme
• how to manage new professions entering the National Scheme, and
• the powers ministers have to direct entities exercising accreditation functions

The review is expected to be completed by mid-2025.

MBA Tribunal

Ahpra provided an update of recent tribunal outcomes which are published online here.