November 2024

In this month's issue:

• Chair’s message
• Medical Board of Australia news
  • Intern jobs in telehealth
  • Applications for the Expedited Specialist registration pathway are now open
  • Annual report published
  • Vacancy on the Medical Board of Australia
  • Practitioner wellbeing
  • Accreditation: providing high-quality education and training
  • Latest registration data published
• News and alerts
  • Review of the National Prescribing Competencies Framework
  • Myths and misconceptions about notifications – When do I need to make a notification as a treating practitioner?
• Medical regulation at work
  • Latest tribunal decisions published
• Contacting the Board

Chair’s message

This is my last message as Chair of the Medical Board of Australia. The nine years that I’ve been on the Board have seen extraordinary changes in our profession and throughout, doctors have kept striving to provide the best possible care to their patients and keep their knowledge and skills up to date. Together, we rose to meet the unprecedented challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. It has been a great privilege to serve the Australian community as Chair of the MBA over the last six years. I leave proud of our profession, grateful to my colleagues on the state and territory medical boards for their service and dedication, and in awe of the kindness and dedication of doctors around Australia.

Dr Anne Tonkin AO
Chair, Medical Board of Australia

Medical Board of Australia news

Intern jobs in telehealth

We have become aware of job ads for PGY1 (intern) doctors to join telehealth online businesses.

PGY1 (interns) can only work in telehealth when it’s part of their accredited PGY1 position. PGY1 positions are accredited by PGY1 training accreditation authorities against the standards and requirements for training programs in the National Framework for Prevocational (PGY1 and PGY2) Medical Training.

Interns are granted provisional registration to do accredited intern training and become eligible for general registration. They are only permitted to work in accredited intern positions.

Requirements for interns (PGY1) are published on the Board’s Interns page.

For more information about the Board’s expectations of doctors providing telehealth, read the Board’s Guidelines: Telehealth consultations with patients which have been in effect since September 2023.

Applications for the Expedited Specialist registration pathway are now open

GPs with specific specialist qualifications from the UK, Ireland and New Zealand can now apply for registration through the new Expedited Specialist pathway.

Specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs) with specific qualifications in anaesthesia, psychiatry, and obstetrics and gynaecology will be eligible for the Expedited Specialist pathway in coming months, when additional qualifications are added to the accepted qualifications list.

We’re already receiving applications for the new pathway with some applicants already in Australia and some from overseas.

There is a lot of information on the Medical Board’s Expedited Specialist pathway page, including a self-assessment tool, application forms and FAQs.

Annual report published

The number of registered medical practitioners in Australia increased by 4.3 per cent to 142,569 in the 2023/2024 year. In that year, there were more first-time registrants, more male than female doctors, and 11,207 notifications made about 8,418 medical practitioners Australia-wide.

Links to detailed regulatory data about medical practitioners and regulatory work across the National Scheme are listed below.

During the year, workforce was a big focus for the Board as we built the foundations for a new expedited pathway to specialist registration for specialist international medical graduates (SIMGs) with established and highly regarded qualifications.

The number of CPD homes also increased to 20 during the year, with three new Board-approved accredited CPD homes, including all specialist colleges.

More than half Australia’s doctors in training (23,000) did the 2023 Medical Training Survey (MTS). This represents a 54.5 per cent response rate, which continues to build a robust data set that is already being used to improve training.

The Board and Ahpra kept up the pressure to lift standards in the cosmetic surgery industry, pressing ahead with regulatory reforms. New guidelines for doctors working in the sector took effect, Ahpra audited compliance with new advertising provisions which raised standards in the sector, and changes restricting the use of the title ‘surgeon’ to practitioners with specialist registration in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, and ophthalmology took effect.

Consumers can now be confident that only surgically qualified medical practitioners can call themselves ‘surgeon’.

Read more on the Medical Board’s annual report webpage and go to the Ahpra annual report webpage for more on regulatory work across the National Scheme.

Vacancy on the Medical Board of Australia

There is a vacancy for a practitioner member from the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) to join the National Medical Board.

Applications close Sunday 1 December 2024.

To apply and for more information visit Ahpra’s Board member recruitment page.

Practitioner wellbeing

Medicine can be both rewarding and challenging. This applies to every stage of your career – from being a medical student through to retirement. We can all experience challenging and difficult times in our professional and/or personal lives.

If this resonates with you, you are not alone. There is free, safe, confidential and caring support available for you through Drs4Drs.

Help is just a phone call away. You can talk to a colleague or a counsellor. Drs4Drs is here for you. To find out more visit www.drs4drs.com.au.

Accreditation: providing high-quality education and training

The Board has approved the following:

Medical school programs of study

Specialist medical college programs of study

Latest registration data published

The Board publishes data each quarter on the medical profession. Data are broken down by state and territory and registration type, and for specialists by specialty and field of specialty practice. Visit our Statistics page to view the latest report.

News and alerts

Review of the National Prescribing Competencies Framework

Ahpra has been contracted by the Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care (the Department) to review the Prescribing Competencies Framework – Embedding quality use of medicines into practice, second edition (the framework).

The review aims to ensure the framework supports Quality Use of Medicines and that it:

• remains fit for purpose, contemporary, efficient, accurate and reflects current and emerging trends in education and multi-profession practices, and
• continues to describe competencies required to contribute to safe and person-centred prescribing.

The framework was originally developed and hosted by NPS MedicineWise. Published in April 2021, it describes the competencies and expectations for appropriate, safe and effective prescribing across relevant health professions.

Ahpra will be conducting targeted and public consultations in the next 12 months as part of the review. The final updated version of the framework will be submitted to the Department for approval before publication.

While the framework will be hosted on the Ahpra website, the Department will continue to own the document as part of the Quality Use of Diagnostics, Therapeutics and Pathology Program.

Read more about the review of the framework on the Ahpra website.

Myths and misconceptions about notifications – When do I need to make a notification as a treating practitioner?

When treating a practitioner who has a health (including mental health) or drug or alcohol issue, you only need to notify Ahpra if you think their health, performance or conduct may be putting the public at substantial risk of harm.

While mandatory notifications are an important part of our regulatory process to keep patients and the public safe, they are only necessary in a very small number of cases when a doctor seeks help from a treating practitioner.

There are four concerns that may trigger a mandatory notification. Depending on the type of concern, you must assess the risk of harm to the public when deciding whether to make a mandatory notification. The four concerns are:

• impairment
• intoxication while practising
• significant departure from accepted professional standards
• sexual misconduct.

When it comes to impairment, as long as the practitioner you’re treating won’t pose a substantial risk to the public, is managing their condition, and getting the help they need to practise safely, then you don’t need to make a notification to Ahpra.

Seeking help when they need it is the best thing a practitioner can do. You can play an important role in supporting them to continue to practise safely and ensure their patients continue to receive safe care.

Find out more about making a mandatory notification.

This is the third in a series of articles on myths and misconceptions about notifications. It follows Getting the help you need, published in the June 2024 Medical Board newsletter and How will Ahpra manage a notification about my health? in the September 2024 newsletter.

Medical regulation at work

Latest tribunal decisions published

There are important lessons in tribunal decisions about registered medical practitioners. The Medical Board of Australia refers the most serious concerns about medical practitioners to tribunals in each state and territory. Here is a recently published decision:

• a Victorian doctor has been reprimanded, had his registration cancelled and been disqualified from re-applying for registration for six years after having an inappropriate relationship with a patient and threatening her so she didn’t make a complaint (Medical Board of Australia v Foroughi).

Publication of panel, court and tribunal decisions

Ahpra, on behalf of the 15 National Boards, publishes a record of panel, court and tribunal decisions about registered health practitioners.

When investigating a notification, the Medical Board may refer a medical practitioner to a health panel hearing, or a performance and professional standards panel hearing. Under the National Law, panel hearings are not open to the public. Ahpra publishes a record of panel hearing decisions made since July 2010. Practitioners’ names are not published, consistent with the National Law.

Summaries of tribunal and court cases are published on the Court and tribunal decisions page of the Ahpra website. The Board and Ahpra sometimes choose not to publish summaries, for example about cases involving practitioners with impairment.

In New South Wales and Queensland, different arrangements are in place. More information is available on Ahpra’s website on the How to raise a concern about a health practitioner page.

Contacting the Board

The Medical Board of Australia and Ahpra can be contacted by phone on 1300 419 495.

For more information, see the Medical Board of Australia website and the Ahpra website.

Lodge an enquiry form through the website under Contact us at the bottom of every web page. 

Mail correspondence can be addressed to: Dr Anne Tonkin AO, Chair, Medical Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne, VIC 3001.

More information

Please note: Practitioners are responsible for keeping up to date with the Board’s expectations about their professional obligations. The Board publishes standards, codes and guidelines as well as alerts in its newsletter. If you unsubscribe from this newsletter you are still required to keep up to date with information published on the Board’s website.

Comments on the Board newsletter are welcome, send your feedback and suggestions to newsletters@ahpra.gov.au.

For registration enquiries or contact detail changes, call the Ahpra customer service team on 1300 419 495 (from within Australia).