Nushi’s story

Nushi raised concerns with our office about Ahpra and the Board’s handling of her application to have conditions removed from her registration. Nushi complained about the delay in removing these conditions. She was also concerned that Ahpra’s reminder to complete a part of the conditions on her registration was ‘bullying’.

Our office initially sought to resolve Nushi’s concerns through our early resolution process with Ahpra. With Nushi’s consent, we transferred the complaint and Ahpra provided its response. Ahpra apologised to Nushi and explained that the delay was due to pressures on Ahpra’s compliance team associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. Nushi was not satisfied with Ahpra’s response, and we began an investigation to consider whether Ahpra’s handling of the application was delayed and whether Ahpra’s communication was fair and reasonable.

What we found

Our investigation found that:

• Ahpra’s handling of the application was delayed, with the Board deciding to remove the conditions from Nushi’s registration four months after she had completed the requirements of the conditions
• Ahpra’s reminder to Nushi about completing all the requirements of her conditions was reasonable and appropriate.
• Ahpra’s communication could, however, have been improved by:
  • acknowledging receipt of the information received within five business days
  • providing an update to Nushi about Ahpra’s delay in handling her application, and when it would be considered by the Board.

Complaint outcome

Our office provided feedback to Ahpra that it should manage applications to have conditions removed from a health practitioner’s registration in a more timely manner.

Ahpra also advised that it would take our office’s suggestion to acknowledge information within five business days into consideration as part of drafting its new service charter. This update was reflected when the new service charter was published in April 2022.