Paramedics to be nationally regulated from 1 December 2018

Paramedics will join the field of health profession regulation, joining the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) family on 1 December 2018.

Recent amendments to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act in each state and territory cover a few areas. Since the National Law came into force in 2010, this is the first round of significant amendments to occur.

The amendments include:
– national regulation of paramedics;
– recognition of nursing and midwifery as separate professions;
– allowing community members to be appointed as chairs of National Boards; and
– strengthening the notifications investigation and management process to improve efficiencies and better protect the public.

From 1 December 2018, paramedics will join the already 14 health professions that are regulated by AHPRA and the associated National Boards. AHPRA will have responsibility for managing the registration, regulation and investigation and management of notifications about paramedics across Australia from late 2018. A Paramedicine Board of Australia will be established, and together with AHPRA, will be responsible for the following:
– accrediting education courses that lead to registration as a paramedic;
– registering paramedics in all states and territories;
– dealing with notifications about paramedics and investigating where appropriate.

Some of the changes to the way notifications (or complaints) will be managed include:
– broadening the grounds upon which a National Board can take immediate action against a health professional to include where a National Board believes it is necessary to take immediate
action “in the public interest”;
– clarifying that a prohibition order imposed by a tribunal can prohibit a health professional from providing any type of health service; and that the order may be permanent.
– It will be an offence to breach a prohibition order with a maximum penalty of $30,000 attaching to a breach;
– if a prohibition order applies to a health professional, they will be required to inform patients and employers of the detail of the order in any advertising;
– National Boards will be required to maintain a register of prohibition orders;
– Providing more information to notifiers about the outcomes of actions taken by National Boards as a result of those notifications.

New South Wales and Queensland are co-regulatory jurisdictions. AHPRA does not manage notifications in relation to registered health professionals in New South Wales and Queensland and this will include paramedics. The changes to notifications management as described above do not include New South Wales and Queensland.