AHPRA Annual Report 2015/16
Your regulatory scheme:
maintaining professional standards
for practitioners and
managing risk to patients
The Australian Health Practitioner
Regulation Agency and the
National Boards, reporting on
the National Registration and
Accreditation Scheme
About us
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is the national organisation responsible for
implementing the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme) across Australia,
in partnership with the National Boards.
The National Scheme aims to protect the public
by ensuring that only suitably trained and qualified
practitioners are registered. It also facilitates
workforce mobility across Australia; the provision
of high-quality education and training of health
practitioners; and rigorous assessment of overseastrained
practitioners.
Guided by a nationally consistent law, AHPRA and
the National Boards work to regulate the health
professions in the public interest. This includes
registering practitioners who are suitably trained and
qualified to provide safe healthcare, and investigating
concerns about registered health practitioners.
AHPRA’s responsibilities
- To support the National Boards in their primary
role of protecting the public.
- To publish a national register of practitioners
so important information about the registration
of individual health practitioners is available to
the public.
- To manage the registration and renewal
processes for health practitioners and students
around Australia.
- On behalf of the National Boards, to manage
investigations into the professional conduct,
performance or health of registered health
practitioners, except in New South Wales (NSW)
where investigations are carried out by the NSW
Health Professional Councils and the Health
Care Complaints Commission. In Queensland
this may also be undertaken by the Office of the
Health Ombudsman.
- To work with the Health Complaints
Commissions to make sure the appropriate
organisation deals with community concerns
about individual registered health practitioners.
- To support the National Boards in the
development of registration standards, codes
and guidelines.
- To provide advice to the Australian Health
Workforce Ministerial Council about the
administration of the National Scheme.
Our regulatory principles (Appendix 1) underpin
the work of the National Boards and AHPRA in
regulating Australia’s health practitioners in the
public interest. The principles foster a responsive,
risk-based approach to regulation across all
professions within the National Scheme.
The National Boards
The National Boards are responsible for regulating
registered health practitioners, protecting the
public, and setting the standards and policies that
all registered health practitioners must meet. The
14 National Boards are:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
- Health Practice
- Chinese Medicine
- Chiropractic
- Dental
- Medical
- Medical Radiation Practice
- Nursing and Midwifery
- Occupational Therapy
- Optometry
- Osteopathy
- Pharmacy
- Physiotherapy
- Podiatry, and
- Psychology.
Our vision
The National Accreditation Scheme Strategy
2015-2020 sets out our vision, mission and strategic
priorities. The Strategy has been jointly developed by
AHPRA and the National Boards and is available on our
NRAS Strategy page.