AHPRA Registered Professions – Renewal and Recency of Practice Changes

VAHPA members who are registered with AHPRA will need to renew their registration by the end of November.  You can do so online here: http://www.ahpra.gov.au/Registration/Practitioner-Services.aspx#renew

Physiotherapists, Podiatrists and Medical Radiation Practitioners also need to be aware of the new recency of practice rules that come into effect from 1 December 2016. The full details and implications are available on the AHPRA website but the important points from each of these Boards are captured below:

From the Physiotherapy Board:
To meet this registration standard you must complete:

Practice means any role, whether remunerated or not, in which the individual uses their skills and knowledge as a health practitioner in their profession. Practice in this context is not restricted to the provision of direct clinical care. It also includes using professional knowledge (working) in a direct non-clinical relationship with clients, working in management, administration, education, research, advisory, regulatory or policy development roles, and any other roles that impact on the safe, effective delivery of services in the profession.From the Medical Radiation Practice Board:
The Board’s Recency of practice registration standard requires all medical radiation practitioners to have completed at least 450 hours of practice in the profession in the past three years (in each division of registration).

I am a registered practitioner but I don’t see patients – will I meet the standard?
The Board recognises that each registrant’s scope of practice may change over time and that the practice of experienced registrants often becomes more focused and specialised than that of newly-registered practitioners. This might be because of specialisation in a certain area or with a particular client group, or a movement into management roles, education or research.

What does scope of practice mean?
Scope of practice is the professional role and services that an individual health practitioner is trained, qualified and competent to perform. A medical radiation practitioner’s scope of practice may include clinical and non-clinical practice. If your scope of practice is in a non-clinical role, you do not need to practise in a clinical role to meet the recency of practice standard.

From the Podiatry Board:
To meet this registration standard you must have practised in your scope of practice for a minimum of:

VAHPA CPD
Remember that you still need to meet your CPD requirements and VAHPA has a free CPD online program where you can record your activities and purchase discounted modules if you need more points: www.vahpa.asn.au/vhpa-member-continuing-professional-development-cpd