Using data to protect the public – have your say on our draft Data strategy

10 Nov 2022

Public consultation on our draft Data strategy opens today. The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) is inviting feedback from practitioners, community members, employers and other stakeholders on the future uses of the data we collect and hold.

Data held by Ahpra

As part of our work, we collect and hold data about health practitioners, students and graduates, as well as data from those who’ve raised concerns with us.

The data we hold is an important asset that can be used to improve public safety in health care. In this consultation, we are exploring how the data we collect and hold could give greater benefit to the public and practitioners and enhance our regulatory effectiveness.

We take our privacy and confidentiality obligations very seriously and apply rigorous security measures to protect the data we collect and hold. We will only share data as permitted by the National Law, the Privacy Act 1988 (Cth) and Australian Privacy Principles found in that Act.

About the consultation

We are inviting responses to specific questions about the future uses of the data we collect and hold and general comments on the draft Data strategy. We are also seeking feedback on the future directions for three focus areas:

• the public register of health practitioners
• data sharing, and
• advanced analytics.

The public register

We want the public register to continue to be a trusted source of information about health practitioners that helps the public make informed choices about their healthcare.

We’re consulting on what additional information could be included in the public register, including whether we should consider publishing health practitioners’ disciplinary history.

Data sharing

We’re want your feedback on how we share data with and receive data from other organisations to benefit the public, where permitted by our National Law and privacy legislation.

Advanced analytics

We’re also consulting on using new and emerging data technologies within a robust legal and ethical framework to help make our regulatory work more effective and efficient. Machine learning and advanced analytics could help us speed up registration processes, identify risk factors in notifications and triage higher risk matters, and support regulatory decision making. Complex regulatory decisions will continue to be made by humans and supported by data.

Information sessions

We will be holding some online information sessions during the consultation period. More information about these will be published on the consultation webpage soon.

How to give feedback

The consultation is open until 31 January 2023. To read the consultation paper and submit your feedback, click here.

We encourage you to use the online form to make your submission. We can also accept submissions of Word documents via email.

For more information

• Read the consultation paper and the draft Data strategy
• Read our resources for practitioners, the public and employers
• Ahpra’s Privacy Policy
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200