Ahpra keeps a list of every health practitioner who is registered to practise in Australia in the professions below: 

The list is called the ‘Register of practitioners’. When a health practitioner’s name appears on the list, you know that they are allowed to practise. Sometimes a registered practitioner has a type of registration or conditions that limit what they can do. This information is also published on the list. 

Find out more about the terms used in the register such as ‘condition’, ‘undertaking’ and ‘principal place of practice’.

We also have a list of public statements and warnings.

Can’t find your practitioner on the register?

• Check our help and tips. 
• Sometimes practitioners have different names for registration to the name they may be commonly known by. You may need to check with them, or the health service where they work, to know what name they have used for registration. Or you can ask for their registration number and search the list using that number.  
• If a practitioner’s name does not appear on the public register or you have questions about the details shown, you can call us on 1300 419 495 to have a confidential conversation.
• We also have a list of cancelled practitioners and a list of practitioners who have formally agreed not to practise. The practitioners on these two lists are not allowed to provide any services as a health practitioner. 

Protected titles and specialist titles

In Australia, the titles of registered health professions are 'protected' by law. This is important because they can act as a sort of shorthand. When you see someone who uses a protected title (for example, 'medical practitioner'), you can expect that person is appropriately trained and qualified in that profession, registered, and that they are expected to meet safe and professional standards of practice.

The protected titles under the National Law* can be accessed here.

Medicine, dentistry and podiatry also have approved specialist titles for their professions. This means that a practitioner who uses these titles to describe themselves, has additional training and qualifications in a specialty field. For example, a medical practitioner who has additional training and qualifications in neurosurgery and meets the requirements for specialist registration, can use the protected title ‘specialist neurosurgeon’ or simply refer to themselves as a ‘neurosurgeon’. 

Read more about how protected titles help protect the public here.

Our role in protecting the public

• Our main role is to protect the public by making sure that only health practitioners (from the professions listed above) who are suitably trained and qualified and who practise in a competent and ethical manner, are registered.
• This means that when managing a notification, we can only investigate the concern if there may be a risk to the public.
• If you have a complaint about a service or fee, or a dispute with a health service provider (such as a hospital, clinic or a health practitioner) you should contact the relevant healthcare complaints organisation in your state or territory. They also manage complaints about other people working in healthcare that are not registered health practitioners (such as nutritionists, masseuses, naturopaths, homeopaths, dieticians, social workers and speech pathologists.).

Interpreter services

We work with the Translating and Interpreting Service (TIS National). If you don’t speak English or find it easier to speak in your own language you can use TIS National to speak with someone at Ahpra. It’s free for you to use this service, just call TIS National on 131 450 and ask them to call Ahpra on 1300 419 495.