VICDOC Autumn 2023 - Magazine - Page 56
WORK PL AC E RE L AT I O NS
NATIONAL
HEALTH
REGULAT R
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The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA)
has been much in the news recently. Sometimes referred to
as the medical regulator, AHPRA notionally regulates the 15
Australian health professions of which nurses and doctors
constitute the majority of the 820,000 members. In reality
AHPRA regulates only half that number as NSW never joined the
national scheme and Queensland later opted out.
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OPINION DR KERRY BREEN AM
AHPRA was established hastily in
2010. It has not won the confidence of the
community or the health professions. It
probably never will because of the flaws
in the national law that underpins the
scheme, the unworkable size of a very large
bureaucracy which is now beyond the reach
of the nine health ministers responsible for
the scheme, and the fact that it will never
truly be a national scheme. In criticising
the scheme, I emphasise that I am not
criticising the staff of AHPRA who are
trapped in its dysfunctional structure.
In its nearly 13 years of existence,
AHPRA has been the subject of four
Federal parliamentary inquiries, a Victorian
parliamentary inquiry and an independent
review by a consultant chosen for the task
by the health ministers. Added to this list is
the ‘rapid review’ now ordered by the Federal
Health Minister. The CEO of AHPRA has
recently announced proposals for reforms
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AMA VI C TO RIA
directed primarily at issues surrounding
sexual misconduct by health professionals.
This announcement is ironic for Victorians
as the proposed reforms represent a return
to unique Victorian initiatives that were
abandoned by AHPRA in 2010.
The structure of the national scheme
made up of AHPRA and the 15 health
professions boards is impossible to
accurately describe in a few words. Although
the role of AHPRA vis-a-vis the 15 health
profession boards is portrayed as coregulatory, AHPRA controls all the funds,
holds all the strings and employs most of
the staff. Each board has to apply annually
to AHPRA for continuation of funding.
When the national scheme was first
announced, the interim agency responsible
for establishing it claimed that its
efficiencies would lead to reduced annual
registration fees and that the scheme would
maintain all the positive aspects of the