What is a notifiable event?
Under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (the National Law), registered health practitioners and students must give written notice of a notifiable event within seven days of such event occuring, to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA).
Notifiable events include:
- you have been charged with an offence punishable by 12 months' imprisonment or more
- you have been convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment
- you no longer have professional indemnity insurance, as required by the registration standard set by your National Board
- you have had your right to practice at a hospital or health service withdrawn or restricted
- you have had your Medicare billing privileges restricted
- your authority to administer, obtain, possess, prescribe, sell, supply or use a scheduled medicine or class of scheduled medicines is cancelled or restricted
- a complaint has been made about you to an organisation that provides health services, or to another organisation as detailed in the National Law.
- your registration as a health practitioner in another country is restricted, suspended or cancelled.
If you are a student, you need to tell us when:
- you have been charged with an offence punishable by 12 months' imprisonment or more
- you have been convicted of an offence punishable by imprisonment
- your registration as a student in a health profession in another country outside Australia has been suspended or cancelled.
You can do this by completing AHPRA's Notice of Certain Events form or by writing to AHPRA directly. AHPRA will refer this information to the Council and the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC), which may ask the Council to manage the matter if it affects the standard of your professional practice.
What will the Council do?
When a notifiable event is referred to us, we always consider the context of what you tell us and assess any risk to the public, before we decide what happens next. We:
- may ask you for more information as part of the joint assessment process with the HCCC to understand what has happened
- consider carefully whether we need to take any regulatory action to protect public safety
- give you the opportunity to tell us more.
If we think we need to restrict your registration in some way to keep patients safe, we will:
- encourage you to get advice from your professional indemnity insurer or a legal representative
- keep you informed about what we are proposing to do before we do it
- give you the opportunity to provide us with information before we make a decision.
What might happen to my registration?
We only decide whether we need to take regulatory action after considering your individual case. What we decide is based on our assessment of the risk to public safety. At the end of our process, we might decide to:
- take no further regulatory action
- restrict your registration in some way, through conditions
- suspend your registration for a period while we gather more information
- refer your case to the HCCC for investigation if it raises a serious issue of risk to the public.
What if I tell you I have a health problem?
It is important to take steps to keep yourself well. If you have a health problem, we encourage you to seek care from another registered health practitioner. More detail about the standards expected in relation to doctors managing their health is in the Medical Board of Australia's code of conduct.
If you are concerned about your ability to provide safe care because of your health, do not rely on your own assessment of the risk you may pose. Instead, your treating practitioner can help you consider whether you need to modify your practice and, if so, how. You should follow your treating practitioner's advice.
You can read more about our Health Program, which outlines how we manage health practitioners who have an impairment.
Occasionally, if you have a health condition that is not being managed effectively, it is possible you may have an impairment that has placed or will place the public at risk of harm. In this circumstance, there may be an obligation on another registered health practitioner, an employer or an education provider to report this information to us. Read more about mandatory reporting.