Revised registration standards published today

30 Oct 2015

National Boards regulating most Australian registered health practitioners have today commenced publishing revised registration standards, which will come into effect over the next 12 months and replace the existing standards.

The revised registration standards¹ are for:

• professional indemnity insurance (PII) arrangements, 
• recency of practice, and 
• continuing professional development (CPD).

The revised standards were approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council on 27 August 2015. When they come into effect, the revised standards will apply to chiropractors, dental practitioners, medical practitioners, medical radiation practitioners, nurses and midwives, optometrists* (except for CPD), osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists and psychologists* (except for PII arrangements). The revised standards will apply to applicants for renewal and most applicants for initial registration². They do not apply to the current cycle of renewals.

Profession specific standards have also been approved for the dental, nursing and midwifery, medical and pharmacy boards.

The revised standards are being rolled out to align as much as possible with the renewal cycles for each profession and to allow preparation time where there are changes from the existing standards . Please refer to AHPRA’s registration standards page for additional information and resources.

The standards were revised after a scheduled review, which included public consultation. National Boards today published consultation reports providing a summary of the consultation processes, rationale for any changes and proposed way forward, including areas where further work is planned.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice, Chinese medicine, and Occupational Therapy Boards are in the early stages of reviewing their PII arrangements, recency of practice and CPD registration standards. The Optometry Board is also reviewing their CPD registration standard and the Psychology Board is reviewing its PII arrangements registration standard.

Additional resources about the revised standards

The following additional resources about the revised standards are available on the registration standards page.

• letters of approval 
• consultation reports:
  • Continuing professional development registration standard 
  • Recency of practice registration standard 
  • Professional indemnity insurance arrangements registration standard
• common FAQs and timetable for commencement

To help practitioners prepare for the revised standards, they have been published on the Board’s website:

• Chiropractic Board registration standards news item
• Dental Board registration standards news item
• Medical Board registration standards news item
• Medical Radiation Practice Board registration standards news item
• Nursing and Midwifery Board registration standards news item
• Optometry Board registration standards news item
• Osteopathy Board registration standards news item
• Pharmacy Board registration standards news item
• Physiotherapy Board registration standards news item
• Podiatry Board registration standards news item
• Psychology Board registration standards news item

¹Registration standards define the requirements that applicants and registrants in the regulated professions need to meet to be registered.

²In most cases the National Boards’ CPD registration standards do not apply to applicants for initial registration