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Our research and evaluation work improves our regulatory effectiveness and helps us become an evidence-informed regulator.
Research projects focused on:
The comprehensive national regulation data that Ahpra collects have registration, workforce planning, demographic, commercial and research value, but the National Law and the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) impose strict limits on their use. Our data access and research policy focuses on helping researchers and other parties to better understand the process for considering requests for data and research.
Ahpra’s website outlines the data already available and how to access them, the processes for accessing data not publicly available, and the policies and legislation that govern what can and cannot be released.
We used the ethics pathway established with the Prince Charles Hospital Human Ethics Committee in line with best practice research and the National Health and Medical Research Council's ethical requirements. Ethics approval was granted for 14 projects, including:
We developed a research and evaluation policy and supporting processes for Ahpra and the National Boards, including an internal Advisory Committee to provide advice about when an ethics review is required.
We produced two publications in peer-reviewed health journals, to share knowledge:
The National Boards and Ahpra regularly collaborate on shared policy issues that affect professions similarly. This collaboration facilitates effective and collaborative care, supports good interprofessional practice, and helps to simplify the regulatory landscape.
It makes it easier for the public, practitioners and employers to know what to expect of registered health practitioners.
We have continued to explore and expand how our work as a health practitioner regulator can support registered health practitioners to provide safe and effective care in their professional practice.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continued, registered health practitioners played a pivotal role in treating and containing COVID-19 and supporting the national vaccination program. We continued to work with the National Boards to support timely, proactive regulatory responses. As part of our efforts to support health practitioners, we:
We published a new Resources section on the Ahpra website to create a helpful hub to support practitioners’ professional practice and help the public make safer health choices.
We also issued several position statements to provide further advice and guidance on the National Boards’ expectations of registered health practitioners in response to emerging issues about the COVID-19 pandemic, including Facilitating access to care in a COVID-19 environment: Guidance for health practitioners.
Ahpra develops policy resources and tools to support regulatory policy development and provides policy advice to the National Boards. Together with the National Boards we provided input to external policy consultations and reviews for:
So that the National Boards’ regulatory requirements remain contemporary and relevant, we:
Our work gives us data and insights into some of the challenges and opportunities for registered health practitioners and, more broadly, for the healthcare system in Australia.
We want to use this knowledge and experience to support practitioners to practise professionally and to identify and manage risk in their practice. Our aim in sharing these insights is to promote a culture of reflection and continuous improvement for practitioners that protects the public and contributes to the safety and quality of healthcare.
In the past year, we identified risks to the public and for practitioners in five areas.
Most cases we see of lapsed professional indemnity insurance (PII) are accidental occurrences.
The professional indemnity insurance registration standard is an important part of protecting the public by addressing the risk posed by uninsured practitioners. The requirement to have PII in place ensures financial protection for both practitioners and the public in the event of an adverse occurrence.
Some employers provide PII but not all. It is the responsibility of all practitioners to ensure both they and their patients are protected.
Health consumer feedback is a valuable part of the quality improvement cycle. Complaints help to identify areas in need of improvement and uncover any real or potential failures from a consumer perspective.
Every day Ahpra learns about complaints to practitioners that are not managed well and have been escalated to us. These range from a failure by a practitioner to respond to a patient’s needs, to an unsatisfactory open disclosure process, and everything in between. When a notifier tells us that they complained to a practitioner before notifying us, this means that the practitioner had an opportunity to avoid the notification by resolving it directly with the notifier.
Informed consent is a critical part of a patient’s relationship with their whole healthcare team, and consumer expectations of accountability and responsibility continue to grow. Informed consent procedures must include providing information to patients in a way they can understand before seeking their consent, and clearly explaining the risks and benefits of the proposed treatment. A shared understanding between the practitioner and patient helps to avoid future confusion.
Any kind of physical examination that is poorly explained or conducted can result in patient distress and a notification.
Managing informed consent well can prevent dissatisfaction and misunderstandings later. It is essential for practitioners to consider if the patient understands the information provided, keeping in mind that most patients do not have the same knowledge and experience of healthcare and procedures as the practitioner. This is especially important where a patient’s cultural experience or background may mean they have different expectations to the practitioner.
Being a registered health practitioner carries a level of respect and expectation in our communities and a high level of trust. When practitioners post or share information on social media, the public might give that information more weight than that coming from other commenters, and view it in the context of the practitioner’s professional knowledge.
The requirements of Boards around providing care to family and friends vary by profession, and practitioners should make sure they are aware of their professional obligations.
It’s also important to be aware of local requirements – states and territories have specific rules preventing prescribing to friends and families, which practitioners also need to meet.
The risks of providing care (including prescribing) to family and friends include potential lack of impartiality, lack of clarity on expectations and the potential for boundaries to be blurred.
Providing ad hoc care to family and friends can prevent them from seeking appropriate support or more specialised care from the wider healthcare community and could, despite good intentions, compromise their care.
Arranging our strategy into themes helps us to communicate how we will achieve our vision.
Efficient and effective core regulatory functions include being responsive to the rapidly evolving nature and scope of health practitioner practice and ensuring that our management approaches achieve long-term sustainability.
We use our data to understand critical issues in health practitioner regulation and the healthcare environment and make sure our standards, codes and guidelines continue to be supported by strong evidence. We are developing and improving our systems and processes to identify risk and make sure we have a strong, reliable and consistent framework for data analysis, evaluation and reporting.
We are focused on strengthening the trust and confidence that the public, health practitioners, organisational partners and other stakeholders have in the National Scheme.
Continuing to provide Moong-moong-gak cultural safety training as part of our commitment to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ health equity and increase the trust and confidence of the community in our ability to provide culturally safe regulatory practices. Despite the challenges of conducting face-to-face learning, 1,443 participants have enrolled in the program, and 1,082 have completed it since it began in February 2021.
Providing easier access to information for all Ahpra stakeholders. We began redesigning our website.
We are working to create a workplace that is psychologically and physically safe for all; enhances the capability, learning and development of our people; and embeds a culture that motivates our people to actively participate and achieve positive outcomes.