Health practitioner regulation: Learn how you’re protected

22 Dec 2015

A new video and an accompanying infographic explaining the Australia-wide scheme that is in place to protect members of the public were launched today by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).

Working in partnership with the 14 National Boards, AHPRA helps regulate Australia’s 630,000 registered health practitioners through a national scheme.

The video explains how the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (National Scheme) works and how patients are protected.

AHPRA Chief Executive Officer Martin Fletcher said that all registered health practitioners must meet national standards and are held to account against national standards.

‘This video explains how the Scheme works,’ he said.

‘When you visit a registered health practitioner, you are seeing someone who has met registration requirements, including being qualified and trained to provide safe care for you and your family’, said Mr Fletcher.

Everyone can search the public online register of practitioners to see if their health practitioner is registered or whether they have any restrictions on their registration. Likewise, anyone can make a notification (complaint) about a practitioner if they have concerns about the care they have received or the health of the practitioner.

Chair of the Physiotherapy Board of Australia, and Chair of the Forum of Chairs of National Boards, Paul Shinkfield, said the video provides a simple introduction to the National Scheme, which has been in place since 2010.

‘The video is an engaging way to see how health practitioner regulation protects everyone who is a health consumer,’ he said.

‘There is more to the Scheme than just registering practitioners and managing complaints. It also requires that the Boards and AHPRA ensure practitioners comply with national standards of practice and that they have access to quality education and training,’ said Mr Shinkfield.

Both resources are available on the What we do page of the AHPRA website. The video can also be watched on AHPRA’s YouTube channel.

For more information

• Watch the video and read the infographic on the AHPRA website. 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9275 9009 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200