Notification complaints

The role of notifications

The notification process is one of the important ways that the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Boards are informed of potential risks to patient safety.

Anyone can make a notification to Ahpra about a registered health practitioner if they have a concern about the health, conduct or performance of the practitioner.

Ahpra gathers information about the notification and presents it to the relevant National Board. The National Board then decides whether it needs to take regulatory action to protect the public. Examples of regulatory action include putting conditions on the practitioner’s registration (such as restricting which medications they prescribe) or cautioning the practitioner.

Common notification complaints

Most of the complaints we receive are Ombudsman complaints about the handling of a notification by Ahpra and a National Board. Typically, over half of all complaints to the Ombudsman each financial year relate to the handling of a notification.

In 2023–24 we received 435 notification-related complaints.  The top 5 issues raised across these complaints were:

• a notifier’s concern that a National Board’s decision to take no further action at the assessment stage of the notifications process was unfair or unreasonable

• a notifier’s concern that information was not appropriately considered when the National Board decided to take no further action at the assessment stage of the notifications process

• a notifier’s concern that the reasons for a National Board’s decision to take no further action at the assessment stage of the notifications process were not adequately explained

• a practitioner’s concern that there had been delay in Ahpra managing an active notification about them

• a notifier’s concern that inadequate steps had been taken when a National Board decided to take no further action at the assessment stage of the notifications process.

Other concerns we often hear from complainants include that:

• Ahpra or the National Board misunderstood the notification or did not address all issues raised in the notification

• Ahpra’s communication was inadequate, particularly in relation to updates about the progress of the notification

• Ahpra did not provide information about its internal complaint-handling process to a person who expressed dissatisfaction

• Ahpra did not respond to a complaint about the handling of a notification in accordance with its policy.

We generally finalise most notification-related complaints without the need for a formal investigation.

Find out more about common complaint outcomes