Restriction: Prohibition on patient group: sex and gender

Please contact your case officer for more information. 

For general information see our Frequently asked questions about Monitoring and compliance page

If you have not yet received contact details for your case officer, please email your enquiry.

We are here to support and guide you through your compliance. 

The contact details for your case officer are included on all our correspondence with you.

We also encourage you to use independent support services, including those provided on our Practitioner support services page.

You can also contact your legal representative or professional union to support you.

You are not permitted to practise without an approved and published practice location.

You must not commence practise or recommence practise until after we have assessed and approved a practice location and the approval has been published on the public register. 

We will consider any practise without published approval to be a breach of the restrictions and may take further regulatory action, even if your nominated practice location is subsequently approved.

For these restrictions, we need to be confident that there are adequate processes for monitoring your compliance with the restrictions at each practice location. 

We consider how appropriate a practice location is for a practitioner who is subject to these restrictions. We place significant weight on practice locations having independent people who we can communicate with and seek assurance from about the practitioner’s compliance.

Senior people and practice staff play an important role in protecting the public. They:

• are responsible for providing accurate practice information
• are the first point of contact for incoming patients
• are the primary contact for us when we seek assurances about a practitioner’s compliance.

Senior people and practice staff should be physically present at the practice location. They should be sufficiently independent from a practitioner that we can reasonably rely on them to monitor the practitioner adequately.

We consider how appropriate a practice location is for a practitioner who is subject to these restrictions. We place significant weight on practice locations having independent people who we can communicate with and seek assurance from about the practitioner’s compliance.

If there is no senior person or you are the senior person at the practice location, we may:

• refuse your nominated practice location
• ask for further assurance that you are complying with the requirements.

For example, we may ask local drugs and poisons authorities or Services Australia for regular audits and independent reporting. 

At the time of booking the patient’s sex and gender will be confirmed and will be asked if they intend to bring a support person to the appointment. Remember that for patients who meet the definition of prohibited patient, you and your staff must not book or allow them to attend an appointment with you. 

When patients ask why they cannot book with you, practice staff will:

• tell them that only people with an assigned sex and gender that matches the permitted patient group may have appointments with you
• give them a link to our information sheet.

Patients who meet the definition of prohibited patient must not be booked for an appointment or be permitted to have contact with you. 

“Patient” includes any person accompanying the individual awaiting, requiring, or receiving the professional services of the practitioner and includes any spouse, partner, parent, dependent, family member or guardian/carer. 

When more than one person wants to attend an appointment with you, practice staff must check whether they meet the prohibited patient definition.

Generally, we will give you the opportunity to:

• nominate a different practice location
• address any issues with the nomination. 

You must stop practising until we publish the approved practice location on the public register.

Send us confirmation  that you no longer practise at the location. For example, a termination letter.

We will remove the publication of the practice location from the public register.

If you only had one approved practice location, you must stop practising until we publish another approved practice location on the public register. If you want to start practising at a new location, you must nominate a new practice location in line with the requirements of the restrictions and the Protocol. 

If you had more than one approved practice location, you can continue practising at your other approved practice location while we assess your new nomination. 

If you treated a patient  in breach of your conditions, you must notify your case officer, even if it was a medical emergency. We will consider whether the situation was a genuine medical emergency.

We define a medical emergency as an event when it is not possible or reasonable:

A medical emergency is defined as an event where it is not possible or reasonable to have a patient with a serious or life-threatening condition seen by another practitioner or transferred to the nearest hospital.

If you fail to notify us of your non-compliance in a medical emergency, we will treat this as a further breach of the condition and take further action.

Senior people and practice staff must complete our Compliance Third Party Induction because we use it to:

• assess the suitability of nominated third parties
• identify any gaps in third parties’ knowledge about their roles
• support third parties to do their jobs effectively.

The appointment report must list all the appointments booked for the practitioner and include:

• appointment date and time
• appointment status (complete, did not attend, etc.)
• patient’s full name
• patient’s assigned sex and gender
• patient’s date of birth.

The billing report must list all services the practitioner billed and include:

• consultation date and time
• service rendered or item number
• patient’s full name
• patient’s assigned sex and gender
• patient’s date of birth.

You must contact your Ahpra case officer or team as soon as possible if you have had a change of circumstances or are unable to comply with the requirements for any reason. See your monitoring plan for contact information. 

You may be able to apply for a change in your restrictions, or an extension of the date of commencement of the requirement for supervision. Circumstances are considered on a case-by-case basis.