The committee met four times; Professor Andrew Wilson AO is its independent Chair. Its priority areas of work are supporting the future health workforce and strengthening accreditation systems. The committee published its Interprofessional collaborative practice statement of intent in March. The statement represents a joint commitment from 53 health and education organisations to embed interprofessional collaborative practice across the Australian health system, in education, training, clinical governance, research and practice. The statement is a fundamental step towards achieving effective team-based and coordinated care across Australia. It is a commitment to improving outcomes for patients and consumers by reducing the risk of fragmented and uncoordinated care.

The committee published a glossary of accreditation terms designed to support the interpretation and implementation of its advice. It also carried out two public consultations:

• on draft principles to strengthen the involvement of consumers in accreditation
• on draft guidance on embedding good practice in clinical placements, simulation-based learning and virtual care to help improve initial student health practitioner education.

The current accreditation arrangements ended on 30 June 2024 for all professions except paramedicine, which ended on 30 November 2023. Ahpra and all National Boards completed the third scheduled review of accreditation arrangements in 2023 and agreed on arrangements for the next period to mid-2029.

The National Boards all made a decision on the accreditation authority for their profession, and the terms of reference and accreditation agreements for the authorities contain a fresh set of key performance indicators that will provide insight into both accreditation authority and scheme-wide performance.

In May, Ahpra, the Health Professions Accreditation Collaborative Forum and the Forum of National Registration and Accreditation Scheme Chairs held their first annual accreditation meeting to discuss accreditation issues relevant to the National Scheme strategy and scheme priorities. The meeting focused on cultural safety and eliminating racism, artificial intelligence, and changing workforce priorities, and was attended by more than 100 accreditation stakeholders from across the scheme.

Nine National Boards exercise accreditation functions through external councils.

Five National Boards – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice, Chinese Medicine, Medical Radiation Practice, Paramedicine and Podiatry – exercise accreditation functions through a committee established by their Boards.

One National Board – Nursing and Midwifery – exercises accreditation functions related to education programs through an external council, and exercises functions related to assessment of internationally qualified nurses and midwives (IQNM) through a committee established by the Board.

The National Boards contributed over $12 million of funding to these accreditation authorities and committees.

Ahpra supported the accreditation committees for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice, Chinese medicine, medical radiation practice, paramedicine and podiatry to:

• assess and accredit programs of study
• monitor approved programs of study
• develop and/or review accreditation standards for paramedicine and podiatry
• develop and implement consistent guidelines for accreditation of education and training programs in these five professions.

We also supported the nursing and midwifery accreditation committee to oversee the outcomes-based assessment of the knowledge, clinical skills and professional attributes of internationally qualified nurses and midwives who want to register in Australia.

This work across six professions supports our multiprofession approach to accreditation.

Accrediting and monitoring programs

We supported the accreditation committees to assess, accredit and monitor programs of study:

• 14 for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice
• 6 for Chinese medicine
• 32 for medical radiation practice
• 24 for paramedicine
• 17 for podiatry and 2 for podiatric surgery.

Policy and process

We also supported the accreditation committees to:

• continue to apply a flexible approach to monitoring education providers’ compliance with accreditation standards, based on specific issues and risk profile – this flexible, risk-based model enables responsive and proportionate regulatory approaches to assessment and monitoring activities
• implement consistent cross-profession guidelines for accreditation, complemented by profession-specific processes (such as establishing assessment teams)
• collaborate to implement consistent cross-profession processes and tools to collect data from 43 education providers delivering almost 100 approved programs across the five professions
• begin a joint review of their accreditation standards.

ABSTARR Consulting completed the development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural safety training specifically for accreditation assessors within the National Scheme. The training began in 2024.

There are six online modules that improve assessors’ understanding of cultural safety and their ability to apply cultural safety in accreditation. Assessors will be able to use and interpret the accreditation standards applying to cultural safety to accredit and monitor programs of study for the regulated health professions; guide and compel education providers, and their educators and supervisors, to provide culturally safe training; and ultimately help students and supervisors to contribute to culturally safe patient care.