The Board undertakes wide-ranging consultation on proposals that affect the profession.
Consultation is an important part of the Board’s engagement with members of the medical profession, members of the public and other stakeholders. The feedback provided via consultation is greatly valued, and informs the Board’s development of important documents.
Where there are consultations open for input, they will be shown below.
Where there are consultations which have closed, they will be shown under Past consultations along with the submissions that were received.
Released: 13 July 2022
Closes: 7 September 2022
Ahpra and the National Boards (excluding the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia) have launched a public consultation on revised English language skills registration standards.
National Boards invite practitioners, community members, employers, education providers and other stakeholders to give feedback on the standards.
National Boards have published a consultation paper that includes an overview of the review, proposed changes to the standards and questions that may help frame your feedback. A link to the consultation paper is available below.
A set of frequently asked questions (FAQs) have been published to address some common queries about the review process. The literature review that was carried out as part of the review process has also been published. Both the FAQs and literature review are available below.
NB: Please note consultation paper has been reloaded on 21 July 2022 due to a missing page.
We encourage you to use the online submission form to give your feedback.
If using the online submission form is not possible, please make a written submission using the Word document submission template below. Written submissions should be emailed to ahpra.consultation@ahpra.gov.au, with the subject line ‘Consultation submission – English language skills registration standard’.
Word template (97.4 KB,DOCX)
To practise safely in Australia, registered health practitioners must have effective English language skills. This includes being able to communicate effectively with patients/clients/consumers and their relatives and carers, collaborate with other health care professionals and keep clear and accurate health records. The National Boards set requirements for English language skills to make sure all registered health practitioners can provide safe care and communicate effectively in English.
The English Language Skills Registration Standard (the ELS standard) is one of the five core registration standards required by all National Boards. It helps to ensure that everyone who registers as a health practitioner in Australia has these skills, regardless of their language background.
Ahpra and the National Boards (except the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia) have reviewed their respective ELS standards to ensure that they stay current and keep pace with our changing and dynamic environment.
The review process has included considering available evidence of best practice, international benchmarking and consulting with various stakeholders whose feedback has been taken into account. For more details about the background and review process, please see the consultation paper.