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In a major milestone, the Medical Board of Australia established a new pathway to specialist registration for eligible specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs). The new Expedited Specialist pathway is designed to get more highly qualified medical specialists seeing patients in Australia safely, quickly and where they are needed. The Board launched the pathway in record time, meeting health ministers’ direction to act swiftly to implement the recommendations of the Independent review of Australia’s regulatory settings relating to overseas health practitioners, or the Kruk review.
Reflecting workforce priorities, jurisdictions identified four priority specialties for the pathway: anaesthesia, general practice, obstetrics and gynaecology, and psychiatry. The gateway to the expedited pathway is a list of pre-approved specialist qualifications, recommended (where possible) by specialist colleges, assessed by the Australian Medical Council (AMC) as substantially equivalent or based on similar competencies as an Australian fellowship qualification and approved by the Board.
The Board opened the expedited pathway in stages: to general practice in October 2024, anaesthesia and psychiatry in December, and obstetrics and gynaecology in March 2025.
International specialists with a qualification on the approved list are eligible for specialist registration with conditions, without specialist college assessment. These practitioners must complete six months of supervised practice, orientation to the Australian health system and cultural safety education, and meet any other registration requirements.
To create the pathway, the Board reviewed and updated the specialist registration standard, which was approved by health ministers and took effect in October when the pathway opened. In a public consultation, the Board received 112 submissions providing feedback on both the registration standard and the expedited pathway.
Jurisdictions have nominated a second tranche of specialties for the pathway: diagnostic radiology, general medicine and general paediatrics. Colleges have nominated qualifications which the AMC is assessing during 2025.
By the end of June:
In parallel, the Board has started reviewing the existing Specialist (Comparability) pathway to streamline assessment processes, remove duplication and ensure more timely assessments of SIMGs, in line with the Kruk review. A comprehensive consultation process is planned.
A steering committee and a stakeholder advisory group are supporting the Board’s review, backed by a dedicated project team established to lead the SIMG reforms.
More than half Australia’s doctors in training – over 24,000 trainees – took part in the 2024 Medical Training Survey (MTS). Over seven years, trainees have created a robust MTS data set that is being used to improve medical training.
Results from 2024 were in line with previous years. Doctors in training reported high-quality medical training with incremental improvements in the quality of supervision, orientation, education and training on patient safety.
New MTS questions in 2024 generated further insights. While 81% of interns reported that their medical school prepared them for medical training, 62% of specialist trainees reported that the financial cost of their college training program had led to stress and 16% of specialist trainees reported that the cost of their college training program had been a barrier to progress in their training program. More than 1,000 trainees reported having experienced or witnessed sexual harassment.
The culture of medicine remains a faultline in training. Unacceptably, 33% of all trainees reported that they had experienced and/or witnessed bullying, harassment, discrimination or racism and, indefensibly, 54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees experienced or witnessed these behaviours.
MTS results were published in December 2024. Longitudinal data from this study is now being used across the health system to identify hotspots and support positive change.
In the booming cosmetic industry, improving patient safety in cosmetic surgery and procedures remains a Board priority. All cosmetic practice-related notifications are handled by a national committee of Board members, and an Ahpra team audits cosmetic surgery advertising, acting on non-compliance.
In 2025, after extensive consultation, Ahpra and the National Boards published advance copies of two new guidelines for non-surgical cosmetic procedures. The Guidelines for advertising higher risk non-surgical cosmetic procedures will apply to all health practitioners, including medical practitioners. New practice guidelines will apply to all non-medical health practitioners, bringing more safeguards for patients seeking non-surgical cosmetic procedures by aligning standards across professions. Guidelines have been in place for medical practitioners since 2023.
Both guidelines will come into effect in September 2025.
Since 2024, most medical practitioners with practising registration have been required to have a continuing professional development (CPD) home. There are now 21 approved CPD homes after the Board approved an additional AMC-accredited CPD home in 2025. All 16 AMC-accredited specialist medical colleges are accredited CPD homes and a further five non-college CPD homes have been accredited.
The Board has actively reminded medical practitioners they need to have a CPD home to meet their registration requirements.
Other CPD upgrades flowed from the revised registration standard introduced in 2023. Under their individual CPD program, doctors now need to have a professional development plan and complete 50 hours of CPD in the prescribed mix of educational activities, review of performance and measurement of outcomes. These requirements did not change much for specialists doing their CPD with their specialist college, but represented a significant change for many medical practitioners who were previously doing self-directed CPD.
All CPD homes have reported to the Board on their members’ compliance with CPD requirements in the 2024 calendar year. The Board will cross-check these data with the compliance declarations practitioners make when they renew their registration.
The Board tackled a range of important emerging issues over the reporting period to guide practitioners and support them in providing good care to patients.
The Board published information reminding doctors that writing a medical certificate is a medical service that requires a real-time doctor–patient consultation for the doctor to assess the patient, provide any necessary treatment and decide whether a certificate is warranted. The Board reinforced the requirements that were already in the code of conduct and the Guidelines: Telehealth consultations with patients.
Recognising that AI technology is rapidly being integrated into many areas of healthcare, Ahpra and the National Boards (including the Medical Board) issued guidance explaining how existing responsibilities in Board codes of conduct apply when practitioners use AI in their practice.
The Board became aware that interns were being targeted in job ads to join online telehealth businesses and reminded interns and business owners that interns are only permitted to work in accredited intern positions.
The Board issued guidance about when a treating practitioner needs to make a notification, addressing widely held myths and misconceptions.
The Board noted an increase in patient requests for compassionate release of superannuation for medical treatment and heard concerns about the financial harm to patients who have used their superannuation to fund dental and medical treatments. The Medical and Dental Boards issued a joint statement reminding practitioners of their ethical obligations under the code of conduct when providing assistance to patients seeking release of superannuation for medical treatment.
The rate of prescribing THC-containing medicinal cannabis has increased dramatically in recent years, leading to patient harm. The Board will soon publish guidance to support practitioners to prescribe safely and appropriately.
In a joint statement from Ahpra and the National Boards, the Board reminded all medical practitioners of their obligation to provide care that is respectful and free of discrimination and racism. These expectations are outlined in the code of conduct.
The Board continues to work to address these issues and promote culturally safe and discrimination-free medical practice through avenues like the MTS and strengthening cultural safety education for international medical graduates.
The AMC is the appointed accreditation authority for the medical profession. It is responsible for accrediting education providers and their programs of study, as well as a range of other accreditation functions that support the ongoing training and professional development of medical practitioners.
In 2024/25, the Board approved the following:
The Board published 10 editions of the Medical Board Update and two editions of a newsletter for medical students.
The Board responded to many media requests for comment on a range of issues. We also received requests for comment about individual practitioners and answered with limited information, guided by law.
The Board has an active program of stakeholder engagement that includes regular meetings with the:
The Board has a program of internal stakeholder engagement to promote consistency in decision making and respond to feedback from our decision makers, including:
Health ministers approved two revised registration standards:
The Board consulted on Health checks for late career doctors and is considering next steps.
The Board, together with other Boards, consulted on the:
The Board can make recommendations to health ministers about whether an area of medicine should be recognised as a specialty for the purposes of specialist registration. Only medical practitioners with specialist registration can call themselves specialist medical practitioners.
The Board considered the final assessment reports, including the outcomes of public consultation, of two proposals for the recognition of new fields of specialty practice: genetic pathology and rural generalist medicine. Based on the AMC’s advice, the Board recommended both proposals to health ministers. In June, health ministers approved genetic pathology as a new field of specialty practice within the specialty of pathology. The Board is awaiting health ministers’ decision on rural generalist medicine.
Dr Susan O’Dwyer, Chair
