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Commissioner complaints

Our office provides a free and independent complaint handling service for the public and health practitioners

Make a complaint

Complaints to the Commissioner

Our office accepts complaints about how the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), the National Boards and accreditation organisations, including specialist medical colleges, use or share personal information.

The Commissioner can decide:

what action should be taken to resolve a complaint
whether compensation should be awarded for any loss or damage suffered due to a breach of privacy
that the handling of personal information was reasonable and take no further action.

Make a complaint to the Commissioner

Your privacy rights

The Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) promotes and protects the privacy of individuals by regulating the way personal information (information that identifies someone) is handled by agencies including Ahpra, the National Boards and accreditation organisations.

Complaints about breaches of privacy may relate to the inappropriate sharing or use of personal information.

Ahpra and the National Boards keep several files that may contain personal information, including:

registration files
notification files
investigation files
public register information, including previous registration and disciplinary information
legal files
employment files
general administration files and documents.

Ahpra's privacy policy

Find out more about Ahpra’s privacy policy.
Ahpra's collection statements

Learn more about Ahpra’s collection statements.
Privacy Act

Find out more about the Privacy Act from the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner.

Make a complaint

Make a complaint to the Ombudsman and Commissioner and find out how to lodge a complaint

Apply for FOI review

Apply for review of Ahpra's FOI decision or find out more about how to make an application

Complaints to the Ombudsman that raise privacy concerns

We also consider complaints to the Ombudsman about how Ahpra, a National Board or an accreditation organisation handled a matter. Sometimes these complaints raise concerns that relate to a person's privacy. The Ombudsman commonly hears concerns about actions related to the publishing of information (for example, registration information about practitioners on the public register).

If you are unsure whether you should make a complaint to the Ombudsman or the Commissioner, please contact us and we can discuss these different complaint types with you.

Notifiable Data Breaches Scheme

Ahpra, the National Boards and accreditation organisations must notify us about data breaches involving personal information that are likely to result in serious harm to a person. A data breach of this nature is called a ‘notifiable data breach’.

Find out more about Notifiable Data Breaches

Find out more

Make a complaint to the Commissioner

Make a complaint to the Commissioner

Are you ready to make a complaint about how Ahpra, a National Board or an accreditation organisation used or shared personal information?

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Use of personal information

Use of personal information

We strive to improve how your personal information is protected by Ahpra, the National Health Practitioner Boards and accreditation organisations, such as specialist medical colleges.

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Ombudsman complaints

Ombudsman complaints

The Ombudsman can assist with complaints about how Ahpra and the National Boards have handled notification or registration matters, personal information and FOI requests. We also can also assist with concerns about how accreditation organisations (such as specialist medical colleges) have handled some matters, including the accreditation of an education provider, program of study or training site or the assessment of overseas qualified practitioners.

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Privacy complaints

Privacy complaints

We can consider complaints to the Ombudsman about how Ahpra,a National Board or an accreditation organisation, including a specialist medical college, handled a privacy-related matter.

Read more