Consultations launched on 11 September by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) ask people to have their say on revised guidance to help practitioners and others understand their mandatory notification obligations, understand their obligations when advertising a regulated health service and to support a responsive and risk-based approach to supervised practice.

The National Boards for the 16 regulated health professions and the AHPRA are carrying out the public consultation on revised policy guidance on three major areas to replace current guidance, including:

• revised Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about registered health practitioners and Guidelines: Mandatory notifications about health students
• revised Guidelines on advertising regulated health services, and
• a proposed Supervised practice framework.

To promote these important proposed updates a national consultation process is now underway.

AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher highlighted the importance of making sure regulatory tools, including guidance, are up to date and cohesive, which benefits Australian patients and the health sector.

‘The work of the National Boards and AHPRA, and the role of health practitioner regulation, is key to supporting patient safety in the Australian health system. We are updating these core documents to make sure the guidance we provide and expect others to follow is contemporary, fit for purpose and meets the expectations of the public and needs of the health system,’ Mr Fletcher said.