The NHPO’s primary role is to provide oversight of bodies in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme, including the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra), the 15 National Health Practitioner Boards and accreditation organisations. The NHPO sees complaints as an invaluable way to identify and address problems with how registered health practitioners are regulated in Australia.
The independent statutory roles of the National Health Practitioner Ombudsman (Ombudsman) and the National Health Practitioner Privacy Commissioner (Commissioner) were established in 2010 under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (the National Law).[1]
The office champions fairness through investigating complaints, facilitating resolutions and making recommendations to improve the regulation of Australia’s registered health practitioners. It provides a free, impartial and independent complaint handling service, assisting with:
• complaints to the Ombudsman
• privacy complaints to the Commissioner
• applications for a review of a decision made by Ahpra under federal Freedom of Information legislation.
The Ombudsman and Commissioner’s powers are derived from the Ombudsman Act 1976 (Cwlth), Privacy Act 1988 (Cwlth) and Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cwlth). These Commonwealth Acts are modified by the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Regulation 2018 (the Regulation) to make them suitable for the National Scheme.
