Record number of complaints about AHPRA

Complaints to the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (NHPO) have hit a new high, spiking 42% to a total of 980 in the past financial year.
 
Its 2024–25 annual report suggests the increase was partly driven by a rise in complaints about the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) registration process, which almost tripled from 123 to 355 as the regulator adapted to a new operating system.
 
The Ombudsman notes it anticipated a related increase in complaints due to the launch of the system and practitioner portal in March, and reported a rise in approaches ahead of the May registration deadline for nurses and midwives.
 
There was also a significant increase in complaints about AHPRA’s handling of notifications, which went up 17% to 508, more than half of all complaints, which the NHPO described as ‘consistent’ with previous trends.
 
It means complaints against the regulator hit record levels.
 
The Ombudsman noted that medical practitioners were linked to more complaints about AHPRA’s work than any other profession, accounting for 566 in total – up from 453 the previous year.
 
Of those complaints, 336 were linked to notifications compared to 316 in the previous financial year.
 
Across the health professions, most complaints to the Ombudsman are historically made by the person who made the notification, a trend which continued this year according to the NHPO report.
 
There was also a sharp rise in complaints linked to medical practitioner registration last year, which the Ombudsman linked to a rise in the Medical Board fee.
 
While the $1027 general registration fee for last year was significantly higher than for any other health profession, the NHPO report says most complaints were not investigated as the increase was less than the consumer price index.
 
The trends reported by the NHPO reflect similar trajectories in registrations and notifications overseen by the regulator, which were published in the AHPRA annual report last week.
 
There were 12,744 notifications about 9087 doctors, including data from the Queensland Office of the Health Ombudsman (OHO) and the Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA) in New South Wales, well over half of the 22,658 notifications for all health practitioners.
 
It has left the regulator battling to meet workload demands with a build-up of more complex cases.
 
The Ombudsman states that notification-related complaints involving the medical profession ‘are consistently more common due to the size of the profession and the large number of notifications received each year about medical practitioners’.
 
AHPRA also recorded 111,294 registration applications in the past financial year, along with 870,569 renewals, with a total of 148,185 medical practitioners, of which 36,456 were for general practice.
 
It means 6.1% of registered doctors were the subject of a complaint in the last financial year, although it is not publicly recorded how many of those involved GPs, as notifications are not broken down by medical specialty.
 
Due to the way health notifications are managed, the NHPO only accepts complaints about the regulator if the notification goes through AHPRA, mostly excluding it from dealing with complaints about the thousands of notifications managed by the OHO and the HPCA.
 
According to the NHPO, by the end of June 2025 it was receiving ‘significantly fewer’ complaints about registrations, which it suggested was due to AHPRA successfully resolving teething issues with its new operating system as well as the passing of the peak period for registering.
 
AHPRA also referenced the launch of the new case management system in its annual report, saying that the old system had been in place since the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme began in 2010.
 
‘As is common for large-scale system changes like this, there have been some initial bumps,’ the authors acknowledged.
 
The peak period for medical registration renewals under the new case management system, which were due at the end of September, is not covered in the timeframe of the NHPO annual report.
 
However, an AHPRA spokesperson said the ‘early challenges’ allowed it to prepare.
 
‘We have supported doctors during their renewal period with a range of resources, step-by-step guides and troubleshooting tips on the AHPRA portal help centre,’ they told newsGP, noting a total of 38 medical practitioners complained about issues linked to registration renewal this year.
 
‘Feedback from doctors who received assistance in this way was overwhelmingly positive.’
 
A significant section of the NHPO’s report covered its input into the ‘complexity review’ of the National Scheme commissioned by the Federal Government, which was finalised this year.
 
The Ombudsman emphasised the confusion that can be caused by the current system.
 
‘We noted that many consumers are unsure which organisation to contact and that referral processes between entities can lead to delays and dissatisfaction,’ the NHPO report states.
 
It also highlights the release of its review of AHPRA’s framework for identifying and managing vexatious notifications, noting the regulator had accepted all 17 recommendations.
 
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AHPRA Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency National Health Practitioner Ombudsman NHPO