2014/15 National Scheme annual report launched

05 Nov 2015

The 2014/15 annual report: AHPRA and National Boards has been published.

The report details the work of the National Boards and AHPRA in implementing the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme over the 12 months to 30 June 2015.

There are now more than 637,218 health practitioners registered to practise in Australia, from 14 different professions, representing overall growth of 2.9% over the past year. The number of registered medical practitioners has increased to 103,133, representing overall growth of 3.8%.

Medical Board of Australia Chair Dr Joanna Flynn AM said the Board’s focus was on public safety and systems improvements that would support risk based regulation and decision making.

‘Effective regulation balances early identification of risk and proportionate regulatory action,’ Dr Flynn said.

‘We are focused on strengthening our data reporting and analysis, so we can detect issues early and make informed decisions about what kinds of regulatory action will keep patients safe,’ Dr Flynn said.

She said the Medical Board was closely monitoring mandatory reporting data to better understand emerging trends and make sure registered medical practitioners are aware of and meet their mandatory reporting obligations.

The annual report provides information about actions the National Boards and AHPRA have taken to help meet our objectives under the National Law.

Maintaining and publishing up to date information about the current registration status of every health practitioner registered to practise in Australia remained one of the most important protective features of the National Scheme.

‘Information about every registered health practitioner - published on the national online register - is essential for employers and helps patients make informed decisions about their healthcare’ said Martin Fletcher, Chief Executive Officer of AHPRA.

For the medical profession, the 2015 annual report reveals that:

• 103,133 medical practitioners were registered at the end of June 2015, an increase of around 3.8 per cent from the previous year 
• there was a 19% drop in the number of notifications about medical practitioners since last year¹ 
• 4,541 notifications (concerns/complaints) were received about medical practitioners in the National Scheme (including 2,027 notifications in NSW² which is a co-regulatory jurisdiction) 
• of the 2,954 cases closed during the reporting year, the Medical Board of Australia: 
  • decided in 2,233 cases, that no further regulatory action was needed to keep the public safe or that the relevant local health complaints entity should deal with the matter 
  • to impose conditions on a medical practitioner’s registration in 229 cases and 
  • to issue a caution in 339 cases. 
  • In 18 cases, practitioners’ registration was cancelled or suspended. (This does not include the number of practitioner’s whose registration was suspended through interim protective action, pending other inquiries.)

Other highlights include:

• ongoing research and work towards revalidation, including commissioning international research to establish an evidence base for the validity of revalidation and the best models for the Australian context 
• the Board announced a joint initiative with the Australia Medical Association (AMA) to launch a national health program for medical practitioners and medical students in Australia, and 
• consultating with the community and the profession on the best way to protect consumers seeking cosmetic medical and surgical procedures provided by medical practitioners.  

The 2014/15 Annual Report includes some profession-specific data but a more detailed report, with data specific to medical practitioners, will be published on the Board’s website before the end of the calendar year.

A media release about the report - with data across professions and jurisdictions - is published on the AHPRA website.

For more information

• Go to the AHPRA Annual Report 2014/15
• Read the National Scheme media release 
• Lodge an online enquiry form 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9275 9009 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200

Download a PDF of this Media release - 2014-15 National Scheme annual report launched - 5 November 2015 (216 KB,PDF)

¹Queensland is now a co-regulatory jurisdiction. AHPRA only has access to data about complaints referred from the Office of the Health Ombudsman. This year, there were 61% fewer complaints referred to AHPRA from the OHO than were received directly by AHPRA the previous year. We cannot report on all complaints made about health practitioners in Queensland

²NSW is part of the National Scheme but notifications about practitioners’ health, performance and conduct are handled by the HCCC and the NSW health professional councils supported by the HPCA. Some NSW regulation data published in the 2014/15 annual report may vary from data published in the NSW HPCA annual report due to subsequent data review by the HPCA.