Highlights of the past year include:
- There were about 20,000 new registrants in the past year, with a total of 65,274 applications for registrations received across all professions.
- There was a tightening of the criminal history checking process, resulting in the restricted registration of ten practitioners and refusal of one registration.
- Renewal processes were improved, by updating correspondence and using social media with step by step video guides to promote the online renewal process. Resultantly, over 98.07% of registered practitioners chose to renew their registration online.
- There was a 19.7% increase in the number of notifications lodged in 2015-16. Of the 10,082 notifications made, 53.3% of them concerned medical practitioners, despite doctors only making up 16.3% of the practitioners registered. This may be the result of the increased awareness of the National Scheme from AHPRA’s campaign delivered via social media and major health publications.
- AHPRA improved the way they deal with concerns. Communication was simplified, time frames were reduced and decision making pathways were streamlined. In a bid to improve transparency and accountability, AHPRA began releasing quarterly performance reports.
- There was a growth in the number of advertising complaints, accounting for 1,013 notifications.
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