National Boards and AHPRA release 2012 Annual Report

The annual report of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the National Boards has been published.

The report details the second year of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, as well as extensive data on notifications and registrations information about registered health practitioners.

The report reveals:

• the number of registered practitioners in Australia increased by more than 3% (18,000) to 548,000 by June 2012, including 3,355 more medical doctors;
• there were 7,594 notifications about health practitioners made in 2012; 775 of them were mandatory reports, an increase over 2011 especially in Qld.
• of more than 68,000 criminal history checks conducted, 400 were assessed as having the potential to affect registration, and the registration of nine practitioners was restricted or refused as a result;
• AHPRA renewed the registration of 557,000 health practitioners during the year, including the biggest ever health practitioner renewal in Australia when more than 330,000 nurses and midwives renewed by May 2012;
• there were 110,000 students studying to be registered health practitioners at the end of June 2012; and
• the work of the 10 National Boards during the year, including 12 new or revised registration standards, and extensive policy development.

AHPRA CEO, Martin Fletcher, said the 2012 annual report revealed the scope of AHPRA's work, with one in every 39 Australians a registered health practitioner.

"The National Scheme is working very smoothly and at a scale never before undertaken in Australia in health practitioner regulation," he said.

Another core objective of the National Scheme was to enable the development of a flexible, responsive and sustainable workforce, which AHPRA supported through the publication and distribution of much of the important information that it collects, consistent with National Law.

The 2012 Annual Report can be downloaded at www.ahpra.gov.au.