Notifications to Australia’s health practitioner regulatory body have surged by 19% in the last year, new figures reveal.
Ahpra’s annual report for 2024/25 revealed the regulator received 13,327 more notifications – 19% higher – than the previous year.
A total of 22,658 notifications about 16,209 practitioners were received. Of these notifications, 12,744 (56%) were medical practitioners – a significant rise from the 11,000 recorded last financial year.
Of those medical practitioners, some 1,082 were from WA.
RELATED: More doctor complaints
Overall, the number of notifications received about WA practitioners across all fields increased from 1,717 in 2023/24 to 1,887 in 2024/25.
While notifications were up nationally, not all were closed. The regulator closed 12,086 notifications in 2024/25, 8.3% more than the previous year and higher than any previous year, the report stated.
However, it was still struggling to keep pace with the number of notifications. As at June 30 there were 5,627 open notifications – some 26% more than the previous year.
The most frequent reasons for a complaint being lodged against a medical practitioner remained issues related to clinical care and communication.
“The number of notifications open for 12 months or more increased, partly due to the overall increase in the number of notifications received,” the report stated.
“Many of these aged notifications involve complex and long-running investigations and often have related external legal or investigative processes such as police investigations or coronial inquiries.”
The profession was also implicated in the national surge of notifications related to boundary violations, including sexual boundary violations.
RELATED: Changes to Ahpra notifications aim to support practitioners
The number of these notifications related to medical practitioners almost doubled from 472 the previous year to 928 this year. There was an increase of 72% across all health professions.
Ahpra noted these complaints continued to increase amid growing social awareness of, and lack of tolerance for, sexual misconduct.
Medical practitioners constituted the second-highest proportion of mandatory notifications received, reflecting professional obligations to report colleagues whose practice may pose a substantial risk of harm to the public.
Workforce growth
The annual report also showed the medical practitioner workforce not only grew but adopted significant regulatory reforms and addressed emerging clinical and ethical challenges.
There were a total of 148,185 registered medical practitioners in Australia in 2024/25, up 3.9% from the previous year. Of those, 15,810 were registered in WA.
Medical practitioners made up 15.4% of all registered health practitioners for this period, of which there were 959,858.
Ahpra chief executive Justin Untersteiner said while reaching nearly one million practitioners was a significant milestone, the regulator acknowledged that “growth isn’t just about numbers”.
“We’re working hard to make registration easier while keeping safety front and centre,” he said.
Of the 9,072 first-time medical practitioner registrants noted in the report, 4,125 were domestic and 4,947 were international.
The growth in medical practitioners contributed to the 4.3% overall growth of the national health workforce overseen by Ahpra.
The report highlighted efforts to support the expansion of workforce, particularly in attracting internationally qualified practitioners to address critical shortages.
Part of this was the implementation of the Expedited Specialist Pathway, which aims to make it simpler for qualified specialists to begin work in Australia.
RELATED: One year on from the expedited specialist pathway
Mr Untersteiner added: “We’ve made good progress tackling emerging risks and resolving notifications faster, even with record numbers.
“But healthcare is changing quickly, and we can’t afford to stand still. We’ll continue to listen, learn and adapt. Our focus remains clear: protecting public safety and supporting a safe, sustainable workforce.”
Want more news, clinicals, features and guest columns delivered straight to you? Subscribe for free to WA’s only independent magazine for medical practitioners.
Want to submit an article? Email editor@mforum.com.au