AHPRA FAQs

AHPRA regulates the following health professional occupations:

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practice.
• Chinese medicine.
• Chiropractic.
• Dental (including the profession of a dentist, dental therapist, dental hygienist, dental prosthetist and oral health therapist).
• Medical.
• Medical radiation practice.
• Nursing and Midwifery.
• Occupational Therapy.
• Optometry.
• Osteopathy.
• Paramedicine.
• Pharmacy.
• Physiotherapy.
• Podiatry.
• Psychology.

The Health Practitioner National Law (National Law) is a set of legislation established by each state and territory to regulate health practitioners.

The National Law scheme is administered by AHPRA.

The National Law establishes ways to address health practitioner conduct that’s fallen below the standard that’s reasonably expected of the profession.

The National Law identifies three different levels of under-performance or misconduct:

• Professional misconduct;
• Unprofessional conduct; and
• Unsatisfactory professional performance.

If any of the above is proven, it can affect whether you can continue to practice or under what conditions you can continue to practice.

Professional misconduct is the most serious type of misconduct under the National Law.

You can be considered to have engaged in professional misconduct if your conduct is found to be substantially below the standard that’s expected of a registered health practitioner of your level of training and experience.

Professional misconduct can also be found where less serious misconduct has occurred but over a number of different occasions and, when viewed together, is conduct that’s substantially below the standard reasonably required of a health practitioner with your level of training and experience.

Unprofessional conduct is less serious than professional misconduct. What’s considered unprofessional conduct will be judged according to the standards of your particular profession.

The National Law describes unprofessional conduct as health practitioners acting “of a lesser standard” in comparison to professional misconduct, which is described as acting “substantially below the standard”.

Here are some examples of conduct that may be unprofessional conduct:

1. Providing health services that are excessive, unnecessary or not reasonably required for the patient’s well-being;
2. Influencing, or attempting to influence, the conduct of another registered health practitioner in a way that may compromise patient care; and
3. Recommending health services to a patient where there’s an undeclared conflict of interest.

You can be found to have unsatisfactory professional performance if the level of knowledge, skill or judgement you exercised is below the standard reasonably expected of a health practitioner of an equivalent level of training or experience.

The following conduct can be considered unsatisfactory professional performance:

• There’s a general lacking in the way you perform your professional tasks;
• Your performance has consistently fallen below the expected standard;
• You have never attained the expected standard.

It’s possible for conduct that’s not directly related to your professional practice to be considered professional misconduct, if the conduct demonstrates that you’re not a fit and proper person to hold registration.

Similarly, unprofessional conduct can be found as a result of events that may have no obvious connection with the workplace but which raise questions about your character.

Unlike professional misconduct and unprofessional conduct, unsatisfactory professional performance can only result from your performance of professional duties (i.e. not your conduct outside of work).

An AHPRA notification is a complaint about the behaviour or health of a registered practitioner that is lodged with AHPRA or a National Board.

There are two types of AHPRA notifications, a Mandatory Notification or a Voluntary Notification.

Mandatory Notifications are made by people who have a legal obligation to make a notification about a registered health practitioner in certain circumstances. For example, serious or repeated mistakes in carrying out procedures, sexual assault, fraud theft or any other behaviour that is inconsistent with the practitioner being a fit and proper person to be a registered health practitioner.

The majority of notifications are voluntary. A person can make a notification if they believe that the health practitioner is performing their duties in an unsafe way and may pose a significant risk to a patient or members of the public. It doesn’t matter whether the person making the complaint’s health was directly affected.

If a Notification has been made to AHPRA about you, you’re entitled to a fair process to investigate the claims and to defend yourself. This includes:

• Being notified of the allegations raised against you in the Notification and provide sufficient detail for you to respond; and
• Being given an opportunity to respond.

Any decision by AHPRA and / or a National Board should be unbiased and reasonable, taking into account the evidence and must comply with the National Law.

If you’ve received a Notification from AHPRA you can seek legal advice about:

• The National Law and whether AHPRA and / or your National Board has the power to investigate the Notification and take actions such as suspending or imposing conditions on your registration;
• Preparing your response to the Notification;
• What actions you can take to ensure AHPRA is presented with all relevant information and any inaccuracies in the Notification are addressed.

You should seek legal advice if you’ve received a Notification or have made a voluntary Notification to AHPRA.

You should also seek legal advice if your employer raises any performance or misconduct concerns about you, particularly if those concerns allege conduct that may amount to:

• professional misconduct;
• unprofessional conduct;
• unsatisfactory conduct; and/ or
• unsatisfactory professional performance

as those concerns could lead to a Notification being made to AHPRA.

You may also consider seeking legal advice if you’ve been accused of engaging in professional misconduct or unprofessional conduct outside of work, as it could lead to you being found not a fit and proper person to hold registration.

We also recommend you seek legal advice if you’ve received a Notice of Immediate Action.

Once you’ve received a Notification, AHPRA will usually ask you to provide a response. AHPRA will then refer the Notification and your response to your National Board for assessment.

The National Board may also investigate if they believe:

• You may have an impairment; and / or
• The way you practice your profession may be unsatisfactory; and / or
• To ensure you are complying with any conditions imposed on your registration.

If you’re being investigated by your National Board, they must provide you with written notice about the investigation as soon as practicable and then provide you an update of the investigation at least every three months.

We recommend that you seek legal advice if you’ve received a Notification from AHPRA.

Once your National Board receives the Notification and your response from AHPRA, it will then assess or further investigate the case.

After the investigation, the Board can take a number of actions, including:

• Taking no further action if the information available indicates there’s no risk to the public
• Providing you with a caution
• Require an undertaking from you about your conduct going forward
• Require you to take further education or training
• Make a determination that you’ll need to practice under supervision
• Suspend your health practitioner’s registration.

AHPRA may also decide to refer the matter to the police if the Notification potentially involves criminal conduct.

A National Board can take ‘Immediate Action’ against you, if the National Board reasonably believes that your conduct, performance or health poses a serious risk to the public.

Immediate Actions can include:

• Suspension or imposition of a condition on your registration;
• Accepting an undertaking from you; or
• The surrender of your registration.

If your National Board is proposing to take Immediate Action against you, it must give you notice of the Immediate Action and invite you to make a submission to the Board.

We recommend you immediately seek legal advice if you receive a Notice of Immediate Action.

Subject to any lawful and reasonable direction from your employer, you can continue to work unless AHPRA takes Immediate Action affecting your registration.

If your National Board has made a decision to suspend or impose a condition on your registration, you can appeal the decision at the following tribunals:

If you’ve received a Notification from AHPRA we recommend you speak with a member of our experienced Industrial and Employment team to understand your legal rights and how you may be able to appeal a decision.

No, APRHA does not have to investigate a Notification if it believes that:

• The matter is frivolous or lacks substance;
• Too much time has elapsed since the incident occurred and it’s not practical for the Board to investigate;
• The person is no longer registered with a National Occupational Board and it’s not in the public interest to investigate;
• The matter has been dealt with adequately by the relevant National Occupational Board or is being dealt with; or
• The practitioner has taken appropriate steps to remedy an issue and the Board believes there’s no further action necessary.

Professional indemnity insurance usually provides you with funding to seek legal advice to defend, or respond to allegations involving any wrongdoing, mistake or breach of duty on your part. You should check your policy, to see exactly what you’re covered for.

Union members often have professional indemnity insurance through their union.

The benefits available to you under your professional indemnity insurance will depend on the policy but can include covering your legal fees and in some cases, may cover the cost of compensation you could be required to pay.

You should contact your professional indemnity insurer if you are provided with any written correspondence outlining allegations against you.