Interim prohibition orders

From time to time, Ahpra and National Boards need to protect the public from an unregistered practitioner while other regulatory action is being finalised. Unregistered practitioners include health practitioners whose registration has lapsed or been suspended. Where there is a serious risk, Ahpra and National Boards can issue an interim prohibition order.

Interim prohibition orders can prohibit or restrict an unregistered person from providing a specified health service or all health services and prohibit a person from using protected titles. An interim prohibition order is not a form of disciplinary action, determination, sanction, penalty or punishment. Its purpose is to protect the public while a full investigation is being completed.

Examples of serious risk that may prompt us to issue an interim prohibition order:

• a physiotherapist who was suspended after allegedly sexually assaulting patients continues to provide massage services
• an unregistered person is claiming to be a chiropractor and performing spinal manipulations on infants.

Before issuing an interim prohibition order, we will tell the unregistered person about the proposed order and invite them to make a submission explaining why they should not be given an interim prohibition order.

Only in extraordinary situations of particularly high risk and when time is of the essence would we issue an interim prohibition order without informing the person and inviting them to make a submission.

An example of when we may decide to issue an interim prohibition order before telling the unregistered person and inviting their response includes an unregistered person offering discounted dental procedures to be performed the following day.