2023/24 annual summary

Occupational therapy in 2023/24

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2023/24 annual report Download the
Board's data tables

Registration

32,047 occupational therapists
- Up 7.7% from 2022/23
- 3.5% of all registered health practitioners
2,698 first-time registrants
- 2,074 domestic (including new graduates)
- 624 international
0.6% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Gender

Female	Male
89.2%	10.7%

89.2% Female
10.7% Male

Age

<258.7%
25-3441.9%
35-4425.9%
45-5414.7%
55-646.9%
65-741.7%
75+0.1%

Regulation

100 notifications lodged with Ahpra about 87 occupational therapists
176 notifications about 148 occupational therapists made Australia-wide, including HPCA and OHO data
- 0.5% of the profession Australia-wide

Sources of notifications

63.0% Patient, relative or member of the public
12.0% Other practitioner
9.0% Employer
6.0% Police, government or co-regulator
1.0% Board initiated
9.0% Other

Most common types of complaints

28.0% Clinical care
23.0% Documentation
11.0% Communication
6.0% Boundary violation
6.0% Health impairment
26.0% Other

Notifications closed

111 notifications closed

14.4% Conditions imposed on registration
1.8% Cautioned or reprimanded
1.8% Registration cancelled
16.2% Referred to another body or retained by a health complaints organisation
65.8% No further regulatory action (including where practitioner has taken steps to address)

3 immediate actions taken
13 mandatory notifications received
- 8 about professional standards
- 3 about sexual misconduct
- 2 about impairment
11 practitioners monitored for health, performance and/or conduct
11 criminal offence complaints made
2 notifications decided by a tribunal
1 matter decided by a panel
No appeals lodged

Focus on workforce

Responding to workforce pressures has been a major focus of the Occupational Therapy Board of Australia this year.

Growing a safe workforce involves responding to the current shortage and maldistribution of registered occupational therapists, while ensuring that the public continues to receive safe care.

The Board is partnering with the Occupational Therapy Council of Australia to create a streamlined qualifications assessment pathway for practitioners who have non-Australian qualifications that are substantially equivalent or based on similar competencies to Australian qualifications.

The Board is also considering other ways to streamline assessments of overseas qualifications so that appropriately qualified occupational therapists can more easily apply for registration to work in Australia.

Other work underway includes reviewing and improving pathways for safe re-entry to registration for occupational therapists who wish to return to the profession after taking a substantial break from practice.

Accreditation

The Board continued to approve the accreditation of programs undergoing their scheduled reviews during the year.

There are now 48 occupational therapy programs of study delivered by 26 education providers across Australia.

Stakeholder engagement

The Board met with a number of key stakeholders, including:

Occupational Therapy Australia (the national professional association)
Occupational Therapy Council of Australia
Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand.

These meetings provided the chance to discuss emerging issues and to look for opportunities to enhance collaboration on activities that are being carried out across the respective organisations.

In August, the Board hosted a breakfast event in Darwin to meet with local practitioners to share important information and discuss issues and concerns.

The engagement with local practitioners was valuable in allowing the Board to remain abreast of emerging issues for occupational therapists, and we have planned similar events in Hobart and Adelaide to be held later in the year.

Other news

In March, we said farewell to Ms Julie Brayshaw, who was an inaugural member of the Board and served as Chair from 2016.

We also farewelled Ms Roxane Marcelle-Shaw, a community member who had been on the Board since 2014.

Our sincere thanks to both Julie and Roxane for their commitment and passion to regulating occupational therapists and their contributions to the National Scheme.

Also in March, I was pleased to accept appointment as the new Chair of the Board. I joined the Board in 2021 as practitioner member for South Australia. I am deeply committed to promoting the profession and enhancing the quality and safety of health services.

Ms Rebecca Singh, Chair

Download the
2023/24 annual report See the complete set of
data tables Download the
report appendices

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