APHRA's teething problems

Just two weeks old, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) is under pressure, receiving about 3000 enquiries a day and experiencing IT problems. The IT issues largely concern moving 1.5 million records from 85 sources into a single integrated system.

AHPRA says it is working on solving the problems – some immediately, and some taking more time to fix.

To ensure concerns can be raised more efficiently about individual practitioners, AHPRA is introducing a separate pathway for notifications, split from general and registration enquiries. These State-specific phone numbers are to be published on National Board and AHPRA websites and will be routed directly to notifications teams in each State.

Other solutions include increasing the number of AHPRA enquiry staff, boosting capacity to address IT systems issues and intensifying staff training.

AHPRA has urged practitioners to visit their national board website for updates.