Public consultation on review of National Scheme accreditation arrangements

16 Dec 2022

The National Boards and Ahpra are reviewing the current accreditation arrangements for the national health practitioner regulatory scheme to prepare for the next period to mid-2029.

Accreditation is a core regulatory function in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme). Accreditation authorities play an important role in the supply of new qualified, safe and competent health practitioners. This involves two processes – program accreditation and practitioner assessment. Program accreditation is the process of assessing whether a health practitioner education program and the education provider that provides the program produce graduates who have the knowledge, skills and professional attributes to safely and competently practise the profession in Australia. Practitioner assessment is the process of assessing whether an overseas-qualified practitioner has demonstrated the knowledge, clinical skills, and professional attributes to safely and competently practise the profession in Australia.

More information about accreditation is published on the Ahpra website.

Consultation released: 14 December 2022

Closes: 14 February 2023

• Consultation paper – Review of accreditation arrangements to prepare for 2024–2029 cycle

The current accreditation arrangements end on 30 June 2024 for all professions except paramedicine, which end on 30 November 2023. The National Boards and Ahpra intend to complete this scheduled review by May 2023 to inform National Boards’ decisions on arrangements for the next period and provide certainty for the future. The last scheduled review and public consultation on accreditation arrangements was in 2018.

The review aims to confirm performance and progress on current accreditation priorities and will inform the priorities for the next period, including how progress in priority areas could be measured.

Providing feedback

The public consultation closes on 14 February 2023.

The National Boards and Ahpra invite feedback from all practitioners, stakeholders and the community.

In addition to general feedback, we are interested in stakeholders’ feedback on specific questions about the accreditation arrangements including on performance and progress since mid-2019, and possible areas of focus for the next five-years, including how progress in these areas could be measured.

You can provide feedback in two ways by close of business on 14 February 2023.

1. use the response template published on the consultation webpage to record your feedback and return it by email to accreditationreview@ahpra.gov.au, and/or
2. send a written submission by email, to accreditationreview@ahpra.gov.au.

Publication of submissions

Submissions to this consultation may be published on the Ahpra website. There may be circumstances under which submissions may not be published. Published submissions will include the names of individuals and/or organisations that made the submission unless confidentiality is requested.

For more information go to Consultations.