AHPRA notifications rise by 14.2%

Notifications against Australia’s healthcare professionals have increased by 14.2% in the last year, with medical practitioners, including GPs, the most likely to be the subject of a complaint.
 
That is according to the 2023–24 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) annual report, released on Wednesday.
 
At the same time, 547 criminal offence complaints were received – a 23.8% increase in just one year.
 
Of these, 14 proceedings were completed in the courts for offences, with 13 prosecutions resulted in a finding of guilt against the defendant.
 
Within the medical practitioner group, more than 11,200 notifications were made about 8418 doctors nationwide, including notifications to the Health Professional Councils Authority and the Office of the Health Ombudsman.
 
Of these, the vast majority came from a patient, relative or member of the public. This accounts for 5.9% of the profession Australia-wide, compared to 5.7% the year before.
 
The average across all healthcare professionals was 1.6%, with the second highest notified profession being dentists.
 
Of the 6380 lodged with AHPRA alone, 6356 were closed, with 66% requiring no further regulatory action, 5.7% resulting in conditions imposed on registration, 2.2% ending in cautions, reprimands or fines, and 1.4% of practitioners having their registration suspended, cancelled, or disqualified from applying.
 
Across all professions, there were 4.7% more notifications closed than last year and more than any previous year.
 
‘Identifying at an early point which notifications can be dealt with through early determination has significantly improved the time it takes to close notifications,’ the report said.
 
Overall, 50% of low-risk notifications were closed in less than three months compared to 42% last year, and 88% of low-risk notifications in less than six months, compared to 67% last year.
 
The report also reveals that in 2023–24, there were 29% more internationally qualified medical practitioners in Australia, boosted by it now taking AHPRA 45% less time to finalise their applications.
 
‘We focused on improving the process and timeframes for overseas applicants, including reducing the time to finalise applications,’ the report said.
 
‘It took 44.9% less time to finalise “complete” applications (those that included all the necessary information): 33 days this year, down from 60 days last year.’
 
The report finds that last year saw a record 920,535 registered health practitioners in Australia, a 4.9% increase on the previous year.
 
In 2023–24 there were 142,569 medical practitioners registered in Australia, up 4.3% from the year before and representing 15.5% of all registered health professionals.
 
Among this group specifically, there were 9490 first-time registrants, made up of 4059 domestic registrants and 5431 from overseas.  
 
That boost comes following AHPRA’s rollout of its new expedited pathways program, which fast tracked registration for eligible international medical graduates (IMGs), beginning with GPs in October.
 
‘[I] am particularly pleased with our efforts to increase the number of registered practitioners in the past year,’ said AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher.
 
However, the expedited pathways program has long drawn the ire of the RACGP, with college President Dr Nicole Higgins airing concerns about the program’s support for GPs and saying it is ‘very disrespectful of the medical colleges’.
 
This rise in registrations has led to a spike in AHPRA’s income, with the money coming in from registration and application fees jumping $33.5 million, up from $275 million to $317 million in one year.
 
This follows a registration fee increase for several healthcare professions announced in September.
 
AHPRA also confirmed a significant jump in employee costs, up $17.2 million between 2024 and 2023.
 
Also according to the report, AHPRA’s Medical Training Survey revealed that the ‘culture of medicine continues to be a problem’, with 35% of trainees experiencing or witnessing bullying, harassment, discrimination, or racism.
 
‘It is deeply concerning that 54% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander trainees experienced or witnessed these behaviours,’ the report said.
 
It also raised concerns about the rapidly growing use of telehealth following its guidelines coming into effect in September 2023.
 
‘The Board faces ongoing challenges in the coming year, as we design regulatory tools to ensure patient safety protections keep pace with emerging models of care,’ the report said.
 
Mr Fletcher said he is proud of the agency’s ‘strengthened collaborative efforts to address the risks associated with emerging models of care’.
 
‘This has its focus embedded in patient safety and is about identifying issues before they become major problems to ensure a better and safer healthcare system for all Australians,’ he said.
 
‘I thank the majority of registered health practitioners in Australia for their continued devotion to safe, high-quality healthcare.’
 
Log in below to join the conversation.

AHPRA Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency Medical Board of Australia registration fees