An analysis of the key trends in notifications made about registered health practitioners.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has released its 2023/2024 annual report, revealing that 19,522 notifications were made about health practitioners nationally. This is an increase of approximately 1% on the previous year, with the highest rate of notifications directed against medical practitioners and the most common concern being clinical care.
The annual report provides an overview of the regulation of registered health practitioners, spanning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners, chiropractors, dental practitioners, medical practitioners, medical radiation practitioners, nurses and midwives, occupational therapists, optometrists, osteopaths, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists and psychologists.
The key findings of the report include the following:
1. Notifications
19,522 notifications were made to AHPRA about 15,078 practitioners. Overall, 1.6% of all registered health practitioners had a notification made about them nationally. 2% of closed notifications resulted in the practitioner losing their registration or being disqualified from applying for registration.
2. Common complaints
The most common complaints were clinical care (5,827), communication (2,331), medications (1,863), documentation (1,101) and behaviour (807). This is relatively consistent with the previous year.
3. Immediate action
Immediate action was taken on 413 occasions, representing a 23.3% increase from the previous year. While this appears to be a significant increase, it is perhaps better categorised as a re-stabilisation of prior trends given there was a 50% decrease in immediate actions in the previous year.
4. Mandatory notifications
Mandatory notifications made up 10.4% of the types of notification received, consistent with the previous year. 43.8% were about nurses and 29.4% were about medical practitioners. 41.4% related to suspected impairment, 39% for a departure from professional standards, 10.6% for sexual misconduct and 9% for intoxication.
5. Criminal Complaints and Boundary Violations
547 criminal offence complaints were received; a 23.8% increase on the previous year. The first custodial sentence under the National Law was imposed in September 2024 after a women was convicted for the second time for falsely claiming to be a registered nurse. She was sentenced to four months and 28 days imprisonment; the most serious sentence ever imposed under the National Law.
There was also an increase in the rates of boundary violations, including sexual misconduct. This is likely in response to the significant public concern and media reporting directed to these issues within a clinical context in Australia. AHPRA continue to promote reform in this area, including supporting the inclusion of practitioners’ past sexual misconduct on the public register to help people make decisions about the practitioners they see.
All information on this site is of a general nature only and is not intended to be relied upon as, nor to be a substitute for, specific legal professional advice. No responsibility for the loss occasioned to any person acting on or refraining from action as a result of any material published can be accepted.
