AHPRA Annual Report 2015/16
Statutory offences
Breaches of the National Law can put individuals and the community at risk. These offences may be
committed by registered health practitioners, unregistered individuals or companies and are covered
under Part 7 of the National Law.
The National Law sets out the following types of
statutory offences:
- unlawful use of protected titles
- performing a restricted act
- holding out (unlawful claims by individuals or
organisations as to registration), and
- unlawful advertising.
Performance snapshot
- Nine individuals were prosecuted in the
Magistrates’ Court for statutory offences under
the National Law, leading to six convictions.
- 1,348 statutory offence complaints were
received this year, which represents a 166%
increase in the number of offence complaints
received compared with last year.
- Complaints about advertising rose by 237.7%
and accounted for 75.2% of all offence
complaints. Almost 57.3% of these complaints
related to chiropractic services.
- 600 offence complaints were considered
and closed, which is 15.8% higher than was
achieved in 2014/15.
- Given the significant increase in statutory
offence complaints this year, 1,330 open
complaints were still under review as at
30 June 2016.
Managing offence complaints
Our focus is on resolving issues quickly and
efficiently. In the first instance, depending on the
level of potential risk posed by the alleged breach,
we send letters to the practitioner outlining our
concerns and how they can be rectified. Most
matters are resolved through this process, without
the need for further regulatory action.
In some circumstances, AHPRA has the power to
apply to the Magistrates’ Court for a warrant to
search premises and seize evidence. A Magistrate
may grant an application for a search warrant
when there is evidence to support the belief that an
offence under the National Law is being committed
at a specific location.
Offences under the National Law are ‘summary
offences’ and are prosecuted in the Magistrates’
Court (or equivalent) of the relevant state or
territory. All offences under the National Law carry
penalties or fines that may be imposed by a court on
a finding of guilt.
Protected titles
The National Law restricts the use of protected
titles. This means that it is unlawful for someone
to knowingly or recklessly take or use a title to
make someone believe they are registered in one
of the health professions listed in the National
Law, when they are not registered. It is unlawful
to use a specialist title, when the person does not
have specialist registration. It is also unlawful for
someone to lead another person to believe that a
third person is registered in a health profession
listed in the National Law.
A breach of the protected titles provisions in the
National Law is an offence and carries a maximum
fine of $60,000 for a body corporate or $30,000 for
an individual, per offence.
Restricted acts
The National Law restricts certain practices:
- restricted dental acts
- restricted prescription of optical appliances, and
- restricted spinal manipulation.
A breach of the restricted act provisions in the
National Law is an offence and carries a maximum
fine of $60,000 for a body corporate or $30,000 for
an individual, per offence.
Holding out – claiming to be
registered when not
It is unlawful to knowingly or recklessly claim
to be a registered health practitioner under the
National Law. This can include using a title, name,
initial, symbol, word or description that could be
reasonably understood to indicate that an individual
is a health practitioner or is qualified to practise in a
health profession. The National Law also states that
a person must not claim that another individual is a
registered health practitioner.
When deciding whether a matter is suitable A breach of the holding out provisions in the
for prosecution, we consider a number of factors, National Law is an offence and carries a maximum
including whether the prosecution is in the fine of $60,000 for a body corporate or $30,000 for
public interest. an individual, per offence.
Advertising
Under the National Law, a regulated health service
or a business providing a regulated health service
must not advertise in a way that:
- is false, misleading or deceptive
- uses gifts, discounts or inducements without the
terms and conditions of the offer
- uses a testimonial or purported testimonial
- creates an unreasonable expectation of
beneficial treatment, or
- directly or indirectly encourages the
indiscriminate or unnecessary use of regulated
health services.
National Boards have guidelines that interpret this
section of the National Law for each profession.
These are available on each board’s website in
an accessible format. General information about
advertising is available in a fact sheet.
A breach of the advertising requirements in the
National Law is an offence and carries a maximum
fine of $10,000 for a body corporate or $5,000 for an
individual, per offence.
Statutory offences
received/closed in 2015/16
AHPRA received 1,348 offence complaints during
2015/16, which is 166% higher than last year. See
Table SO1. This significant increase was largely due
to a series of complaints by a number of external
organisations about alleged advertising breaches.
Of the offence complaints received:
- 1,013 related to advertising offences, an
increase of 237.7%
- 288 related to title protection offences, an
increase of 68.4%
- 15 related to practice protection offences, a
decrease of 11.8%
- 12 related to directing or inciting unprofessional
conduct/professional misconduct, an increase of
71.4%, and
- 20 related to other offences, an increase of 81.8%.
All jurisdictions recorded increases in the number of
offence complaints received, with NSW, Victoria and
Queensland accounting for 64.6% of all statutory
offence complaints received in 2015/16.
Concerns about advertising of health services
accounted for over 75% of all offence complaints
received this year. Large volumes of advertising
complaints were lodged with AHPRA in relation to:
- chiropractic services – 57.3% of all advertising
complaints
- dental services – 16% of all advertising
complaints, and
- medical services – 13.1% of all advertising
complaints.
There were no advertising complaints received for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practice,
medical radiation practice or occupational therapy
services. The remaining professions accounted for
the other 13.6% of advertising complaints received.
This year, 600 offence complaints were considered and
closed, an increase of 15.8% on the amount of closures
achieved last year. This includes offence complaints
about registered practitioners that were referred and
managed under Part 8 of the National Law.
Noting the significant increase in the volume of
complaints received nationally, there were 1,330
open statutory offence complaints still under review
by AHPRA as at 30 June 2016.
Table SO1: Offences received and closed by type of offence and profession1
| Profession |
Title protections (s.113 - 120) Received |
Title protections (s.113 - 120) Closed |
Practice protections (s.121 - 123) Received |
Practice protections (s.121 - 123) Closed |
Advertising breach (s.133) Received |
Advertising breach (s.133) Closed |
Directing or inciting unprofessional conduct/professional misconduct (s.136) Received |
Directing or inciting unprofessional conduct/professional misconduct (s.136) Closed |
Other offence Received |
Other offence Closed |
Total 2015/16 Received |
Total 2015/16 Closed |
Total 2014/15Received |
Total 2014/15 Closed |
| Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practitioner |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
| Chinese Medicine Practitioner |
12 |
5 |
1 |
2 |
13 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
12 |
16 |
11 |
| Chiropractor |
9 |
9 |
2 |
4 |
580 |
54 |
9 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
601 |
68 |
63 |
112 |
| Dental Practitioner |
27 |
15 |
4 |
3 |
162 |
136 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
1 |
196 |
157 |
109 |
114 |
| Medical Practitioner |
60 |
47 |
4 |
2 |
133 |
76 |
1 |
0 |
4 |
3 |
202 |
128 |
103 |
81 |
| Medical Radiation Practitioner |
8 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
8 |
7 |
6 |
4 |
| Midwife |
30 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
3 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
33 |
6 |
6 |
6 |
| Nurse |
43 |
28 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
1 |
54 |
40 |
32 |
37 |
| Occupational Therapist |
6 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
5 |
5 |
6 |
| Optometrist |
4 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
9 |
9 |
3 |
9 |
| Osteopath |
5 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
7 |
23 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
12 |
25 |
33 |
9 |
| Pharmacist |
4 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
6 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
13 |
13 |
9 |
12 |
| Physiotherapist |
19 |
16 |
1 |
0 |
44 |
24 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
0 |
66 |
40 |
31 |
38 |
| Podiatrist and Podiatric Surgeon |
6 |
5 |
0 |
0 |
20 |
12 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
26 |
17 |
10 |
17 |
| Psychologist |
53 |
43 |
1 |
1 |
27 |
18 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
83 |
64 |
69 |
58 |
| Unknown2 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
2 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
4 |
13 |
9 |
11 |
4 |
| Total 2015/16 |
288 |
194 |
15 |
15 |
1,013 |
374 |
12 |
6 |
20 |
11 |
1,348 |
600 |
|
|
| Total 2014/15 |
171 |
188 |
17 |
9 |
300 |
312 |
7 |
2 |
11 |
7 |
|
|
506 |
518 |
Notes:
- This table includes all offences from sections 113-136 of the National Law, not only offences about advertising, title and
practice protection.
- AHPRA also receives offence complaints about unregistered persons.
Prosecutions under the National
Law in 2015/16
AHPRA finalised nine proceedings in the
Magistrates’ Court for offences under the National
Law across a number of jurisdictions. Of the
prosecution outcomes:
- 66.7% resulted in a conviction recorded against
the individual (6 matters), and an order to pay
a fine and/or complete a period of community
service or good behaviour, and
- 33.3% resulted in a finding of guilt with no
conviction recorded (3 matters), but the
individuals were still ordered to pay a fine and/or
complete a period of community service or good
behaviour. One of these matters also resulted in
a conviction recorded against a company.
A further eight prosecutions were started and
are ongoing before the courts as at 30 June 2016.
Further information about those matters is outlined
in tables SO2 and SO3.
Some prosecutions started in 2014/15 were
concluded after the financial year and have been
reported here for completeness.
News about AHPRA’s prosecutions is available on our News page.
Completed prosecutions
Table SO2: Completed prosecutions as at 30 June 2016
| Defendant |
Date of decision |
Jurisdiction |
Relevant Board |
Relevant section of National Law |
Type of offence |
Outcome |
| Muhammet Velipasaoglu |
13-Aug-15 |
Victoria |
Dental Board of Australia |
s113
s116
s121
Drugs & Poisons offences |
Restriction on use of protected title
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner
Restricted dental acts Drugs & Poisons offences |
Conviction |
| Practitioner |
21-Aug-15 |
Western Australia |
Pharmacy Board of Australia |
s116 |
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
Spent conviction |
| Nicolas Crawford |
28-Aug-15 |
Western Australia |
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia |
s113
s116 |
Restriction on use of protected title
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
Conviction |
| Anthony Cashman |
28-Aug-15 |
Western Australia |
Optometry Board of Australia |
s116
s122 |
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner
Restriction on prescription of optical appliances |
Conviction |
| Practitioner |
2-Feb-16 |
Victoria |
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia |
s113
s116 |
Restriction on use of protected title
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
Non-conviction |
| Practitioner |
May-16 |
Victoria |
Medical Board of Australia |
s116
s3bB(2) |
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
Non-conviction |
| CDC Clinics Pty Ltd |
May-16 |
Victoria |
Medical Board of Australia |
s116 (2) |
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
Conviction |
| Jennifer Reed |
7-Jun-16 |
South Australia |
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia |
s113
s116 |
Restriction on use of protected title
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
Conviction |
| Pierre Allauch |
9-Jun-16 |
South Australia |
Psychology Board of Australia |
s113 |
Restriction on use of protected title |
Conviction |
Current prosecutions
Table SO3: Current prosecutions as at 30 June 2016
| Jurisdiction |
Relevant Board |
Relevant section of National Law |
Type of offence |
| Victoria and Queensland |
Medical Board of Australia |
s115
s116
s118 |
Restriction on use of specialist titles
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner
Claims by persons as to specialist registration |
| Queensland |
Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia |
s113
s116 |
Restriction on use of protected titles
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
| Western Australia |
Pharmacy Board of Australia |
s113
s116 |
Restriction on use of protected titles
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
| South Australia |
Psychology Board of Australia
Medical Board of Australia |
s116
s118
s133 |
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner
Claims by persons as to specialist registration
Advertising |
| Victoria |
Psychology Board of Australia |
s113
s116 |
Restriction on use of protected titles
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
| Victoria |
Dental Board of Australia |
s116
s121 |
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner
Restricted dental acts |
| New South Wales |
Occupational Therapy Board of Australia |
s113
s116 |
Restriction on use of protected titles
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner |
| Western Australia |
Chiropractic Board of Australia |
s113
s116
s123 |
Restriction on use of protected titles
Claims by persons to be registered as a practitioner
Restriction on spinal manipulation |