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14 Jul 2010
Introducing a new national registration and accreditation scheme is an ambitious undertaking. AHPRA recognises that there have been challenges involved in the startup of the scheme and that these are impacting on some people.
There have some key pressure points in the first weeks of the scheme. This includes our capacity to respond effectively to the 3000 enquiries daily to AHPRA and some IT teething issues (many of these are related to moving 1.5 million practitioner records from 85 sources into a single integrated IT system).
AHPRA has identified the problems and is putting solutions in place. Some of these will have an immediate impact but some will take more time to take effect.
To ensure concerns can be raised efficiently about individual practitioners, we are introducing a separate pathway for notifications, split out from general and registration enquiries. These state-specific phone numbers will be published in the next 24 hours on National Board and AHPRA websites and will be routed directly to notifications teams in each state.
Other solutions include increasing the number of AHPRA enquiry staff, boosting capacity to address IT systems issues and intensifying staff training.
AHPRA’s focus is to support the national boards in their core role of protecting the public. Our priorities are to ensure the accuracy and completeness of the 10 national registers, to respond effectively to enquiries from registrants, the public and employers and ensure the integrity of our processes.
We regret that these issues have caused frustration. Delays are not acceptable. We are working intensively on solutions and ask for patience as these take effect.
AHPRA is publishing news bulletins daily on its website and is urging all practitioners with enquiries to visit their national board website for updates.