Occupational Therapy Board of Australia - Past Consultations
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Past Consultations

Where there are consultations which are open for input, they will be shown under Current Consultations.

Public Consultation – Review of the Criminal history registration standard

Released: 4 June 2024
Closed: 30 July 2024

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Boards invited stakeholders to have their say on the draft Criminal history registration standard (the criminal history standard) and supporting documents.

In late 2023, as part of our work to improve public safety in health regulation the National Boards and Ahpra consulted widely on a range of reforms, including a series of questions about the current version of the criminal history standard.

After consideration of all feedback, a draft registration standard and new supporting materials were developed. Stakeholders were invited to again have their say on how we have responded to feedback, the draft changes we have made to the criminal history standard, and the other material we have developed to explain how the standard is applied.

Consultation documents and submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the Ahpra website.

Public Consultation - Regulation of health practitioners who perform and who advertise non-surgical cosmetic procedures

Released: 27 November 2023
Closed: 1 March 2024 (Consultation was extended for four weeks)

Ahpra and National Boards are reforming the regulation of registered health practitioners who work in the cosmetics sector in Australia, to improve practice and standards, public safety and informed consumer choice.

We consulted on three draft documents below related to the regulation of registered health practitioners who perform and advertise non-surgical cosmetic procedures.

  1. Guidelines for nurses who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures (nurses practice guidelines – applies to nurses only)
  2. Guidelines for registered health practitioners who perform non-surgical cosmetic procedures (shared practice guidelines – applies to registered health practitioners excluding medical practitioners and nurses)
  3. Guidelines for registered health practitioners who advertise non-surgical cosmetic procedures (advertising guidelines – applies to all registered health practitioners).

Submissions will be published to on the Ahpra website.

Public consultation – Review of the Criminal history registration standard and other work to improve public safety

Released: 3 August 2023
Closed: 29 September 2023

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Boards invited stakeholders to have their say as part of a review of the Criminal history registration standard (the criminal history standard).

The review, which was part of the work of our blueprint for reform to strengthen public safety in health regulation, which has a focus on sexual misconduct in healthcare, sought feedback on the current version of the criminal history standard, as well as comments on the future direction of other focus areas of work to improve public safety in health regulation including: 

  • our plan to better explain and publish more information about how we make decisions about criminal history and about professional misconduct by registered health practitioners
  • whether we can publish information about practitioners who are registered again after being removed from practice because of serious professional misconduct, and
  • more support for people who are affected by professional misconduct by registered health practitioners.

The consultation formed phase one of our work to review the Criminal history standard and ensured we received a range of views before a revised criminal history standard is developed and another opportunity is provided for stakeholders to comment (phase two).

Submissions will be published to the Ahpra website.

Public consultation – Two further possible changes to the National Boards’ English language skills requirements

Released: 16 August 2023

Closed: 13 September 2023

The National Boards and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) consulted on two further possible changes to the National Boards’ English language skills (ELS) requirements. The National Boards invited responses to questions about the two further changes including specific issues the Medical Board of Australia asked its stakeholders to consider. This consultation did not invite further feedback on proposed changes to the National Board’s ELS registration standards (ELS standards) that were previously consulted on in 2022.

This was a shorter streamlined consultation process designed to meet timeframes expected by Health Ministers. Feedback from both consultations was used to inform the final ELS standards approved by Health Ministers.

Background

From 13 July to 7 September 2022, Ahpra and the National Boards (except the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia) publicly consulted on revised ELS standards. There was broad support from stakeholders for the proposed revised ELS standards.

On 30 September 2022, the National Cabinet announced the Independent review of overseas health practitioner regulatory settings (the Kruk review), and in April 2023, the National Cabinet endorsed the interim review report. In line with recommendations within the interim report endorsed by the National Cabinet, the National Boards consulted on two further changes to their ELS requirements: expanding the range of recognised countries and a change to one element of the English test results accepted by the National Boards.

Consultation documents and submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the Ahpra website.

Public consultation – scheduled review of National scheme accreditation arrangements

Released: 14 December 2022
Closed: 14 February 2023

National Boards and Ahpra are reviewing the current accreditation arrangements for the national health practitioner regulatory scheme to prepare for the next period to mid-2029.

The current accreditation arrangements end on 30 June 2024 for all professions except paramedicine, which end on 30 November 2023. The National Boards and Ahpra intend to complete this scheduled review by May 2023 to inform National Boards’ decisions on arrangements for the next period and provide certainty for the future. The last scheduled review and public consultation on accreditation arrangements was in 2018.

This consultation is a key stage of the review and aims to confirm performance and progress on current accreditation priorities and will inform the priorities for the next period, including how progress in priority areas could be measured.

Public consultation on the English language skills registration standards

Released: 13 July 2022
Closed: 7 September 2022

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the National Boards (except the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice Board of Australia) invited stakeholders to have their say as part of the public consultation on revised English language skills registration standards (the ELS standards) in July 2022.

National Boards published a consultation paper that included an overview of the review, proposed changes to the standards, frequently asked questions (FAQs), a literature review and questions to help frame feedback.

Consultation documents and submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the Ahpra website.

Public consultation on the review of the shared Code of conduct

Released: 11 May 2021
Closed: 6 July 2021

Ahpra and the 12 National Boards that share a Code of conduct carried out a public consultation on a revised shared Code. The National Boards invited practitioners, stakeholders and the community to give feedback on the revised Code of conduct.

Consultation documents, the Patient and Consumer Health and Safety Impact Assessment and submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the Ahpra website.

Public consultation on the proposed Supervised practice framework

Released: 11 September 2019
Closed:  17 December 2019

National Boards (excluding psychology and pharmacy) and Ahpra carried out a public consultation on the proposed Supervised practice framework as part of their project to enable a consistent, responsive and risk-based approach to supervised practice across the National Scheme.

Consultation documents and submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the Ahpra website.

Public consultation on the review of the Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service

Released:  11 September 2019
Closed:  26 November 2019

The National Boards and Ahpra carried out a public consultation on the Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service. The guidelines were developed to explain the advertising requirements in the National Law and to help advertisers (including registered health practitioners) to meet these requirements and advertise responsibly. The review is to make sure the guidelines are as contemporary, relevant and effective as possible.

Consultation documents and submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the Ahpra website.

Public consultation on the review of the Guidelines for mandatory notifications

The 15 National Boards in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme) released for public consultation draft guidelines on Mandatory notifications.

Released: 11 September 2019
Closed: 6 November 2019

Consultation documents and submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the Ahpra website.

Public consultation on review of accreditation arrangements – assignment of accreditation functions

National Boards and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) have completed public consultation as part of a scheduled review of accreditation arrangements from mid-2019, when the current terms of assignment of accreditation functions end.  

Released: 17 April 2018
Closed: 14 May 2018

Submissions and a brief consultation report are available on the Past Consultations page of the AHPRA website.

Public consultation on the draft guideline for informing a National Board about where you practise

The Occupational Therapy Board of Australia has published a consultation paper on the draft guideline for informing a National Board about where you practise.

Released: 13 April 2018
Closed: 25 May 2018

Submissions received are available on the Past Consultations page of the AHPRA website.

Public consultation on the draft revised registration standards for professional indemnity insurance arrangements, continuing professional development including guidelines, and Recency of practice

Released: 13 March 2018
Closed: 4 May 2018

Public consultation on revised competency standards for occupational therapists

The Occupational Therapy Board of Australia (the Board) sought feedback from the profession, stakeholders and the community on the proposed revised competency standards for occupational therapists.

Released: 16 January 2017
Closed: 30 March 2017

Submissions will be published soon.

Public consultation on draft Guidelines for the regulatory management of registered health practitioners and students infected with blood-borne viruses

National Boards released for public consultation draft guidelines on the regulatory management of registered health practitioners and students infected with blood-borne viruses.

Released: 24 July 2014 
Closed: 26 September 2014

Submissions will be published soon.

Public consultation on a review of the English language skills and Criminal history registration standards

National Boards are undertaking public consultation on a review of the English language skills and Criminal history registration standards.

Released: 25 October 2013
Closed: 23 December 2013

Submissions received can be found on the Past consultations page on the AHPRA website.

International criminal history checks - further public consultation

All National Boards have undertaken further public consultation on a proposal to refine international criminal history checks.

Released: 2 October 2013
Closed: 31 October 2013

Submissions will be published soon.

Cross-Board consultation on common guidelines and shared Code of conduct

Released: 4 April 2013
Closed: 30 May 2013

The consultation paper included:

  • revisions to the Guidelines for advertising (common to all National Boards)
  • a Social media policy (common to all National Boards), and
  • revisions to the Guidelines for mandatory notifications (common to all National Boards).

Submissions coming soon.

Review of Accreditation Standards

Opened: 13 December 2012
Closed: 16 February 2013

The Occupational Therapy Council (Australia & New Zealand) Ltd (OTC) undertook a review of the accreditation standards used for the accreditation of entry-level programs of occupational therapy education in Australia.

A copy of the consultation document is available on the OTC’s website. The OTC welcomed feedback on any aspects of the proposed accreditation standards.

Public consultation paper on accreditation standards.

Consultation paper on international criminal history checks

Released: 25 June 2012
Closed: 17 August 2012

Submissions received can be found on the past consultations page of the AHPRA website.

Supervision Guidelines for Occupational Therapy

Released: 21 May 2012
Closed: 15 June 2012  

Submissions received

Proposed Codes and Guidelines

Released: 21 November 2011
Closed: 9 January 2012

  • Advertising guidelines
  • Code of conduct for registered health practitioners
  • Guidelines for mandatory notifications

Consultation Paper - Codes and Guidelines (959 KB,PDF)

Submissions Received and Board decision - Codes and Guidelines (185 KB,PDF)

Submissions received

Feedback for Noting

Proposed Registration Standards

Released: 30 August 2011
Closed: 7 October 2011

  1. Continuing professional development (CPD) and CPD Guidelines
  2. Criminal history
  3. English language skills
  4. Professional indemnity insurance (PII)
  5. Recency of practice

Occupational Therapy Proposed Registration Standards Consultation Paper (486 KB,PDF)

Submissions Received and Board decision (58.0 KB,PDF)  

Submissions received

 General submissions

Submissions regarding Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

Submissions regarding English Language Skills (ELS)

Submission regarding Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII)

Exemption from Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

Public submissions are available on this website for transparency on our consultations regarding important matters affecting occupational therapists.

We publish submissions in their original format as made by the submitter. If you have difficulty accessing a submission, please contact us, and we will try to contact the submitter to provide an accessible version of their submission for your reference.

Please note that submitters are asked to provide their submissions to our public consultations in web accessible formats, and we guide them on how this can be achieved. We will update inaccessible submissions on this website when accessible format versions of files become available.

 
 
Page reviewed 23/12/2024
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