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05 Feb 2018
A self-assessment tool to help practitioners and advertisers check and correct their advertising so it complies with their professional and legal obligations has been launched.
The tool is easy to use and asks users to consider a number of questions about their advertising which can help them understand if it is in breach of the National Law1. Advertisers’ legal obligations are explained in the Guidelines for advertising regulated health services.
The self-assessment tool is the latest in a series of advertising resources developed by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and National Boards for health practitioners, healthcare providers and other advertisers of regulated health services to use to help them comply with the law.
AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said: ‘We are working to make compliance as easy as possible for anyone who is advertising a regulated health service. The most important thing is to advertise responsibly and within the law so patients receive accurate and reliable information about healthcare services that helps them make informed decisions about their healthcare choices.
‘My advice to advertisers is to try out the self-assessment tool and follow our three steps to compliance: read our resources, identify the advertising you are responsible for and review and change your advertising if you need to.’
This work is part of a broader strategy – an Advertising compliance and enforcement strategy for the National Scheme – which kicked off last year. The strategy has met a number of its targets since its launch including clear, concise and helpful correspondence about advertising complaints and new resources such as a summary of advertising obligations, frequently asked questions, tips on words to be wary about and examples of compliant and non-compliant advertising.
The self-assessment tool is available in the Advertising resources section on the AHPRA website.
1 The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory (the National Law).