Investigation into delay and procedural safeguards for practitioners who are subject to immediate action

Immediate action is defined, and its requirements outlined, in the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (the National Law) (refer to s 156). In summary, immediate action refers to a National Board’s decision to take action regarding a health practitioner’s registration if it reasonably believes that a health practitioner poses a serious risk to the public, and/or it is in the public interest to do so. Action may include, for example, placing conditions on a practitioner’s registration or suspending the practitioner’s registration.

The Ombudsman champions fairness by taking every complaint seriously and shining a light on systemic issues to affect positive change. 

The Ombudsman’s office provides a free and independent complaint handling service that is open to all, including the public, health practitioners, education providers, students and specialist medical trainees. 

The office assists with complaints about bodies in the National Scheme, including Ahpra, the 15 National Boards, accreditation authorities and specialist medical colleges. This includes considering complaints about how Ahpra and the National Boards manage notifications and immediate action-related processes. Put generally, the Ombudsman’s role is to consider whether Ahpra and the National Boards’ actions and decisions are in line with the relevant legislation, policies and procedures.

The Ombudsman’s routine monitoring activities identified that practitioners had increasingly raised issues with her office about immediate action being taken. In 2023–24 the office recorded 84 issues related to immediate action being taken across complaints about the notifications process, compared to 51 issues in 2022–23, 45 issues in 2021–22 and 24 issues in 2020–21.

Health practitioners raised a range of concerns with the Ombudsman related to immediate action processes. A common theme identified by the Ombudsman’s office was practitioners expressing frustration with the time taken to receive an outcome for the matter that led to immediate action being taken, and a lack of communication about its progress.

The investigation is considering a range of information to inform its findings, including available research, Ahpra’s notifications-related data, our office’s complaints data and targeted engagement with affected individuals and organisations.

The Ombudsman is also considering submissions from health practitioners, health services and organisations, and others who took part in the public consultation process. The public consultation took place from 27 February 2025 to 31 March 2025 and is now closed.