AHPRA 2024/2025 annual report offers insights into regulation of medical practitioners

The 2024/2025 annual report of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) provides an overview of the regulation of registered health practitioners. This spans Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners, Chinese medicine practitioners, chiropractors, dental practitioners, medical practitioners, medical radiation practitioners, nurses and midwives, occupational therapists, optometrists, osteopaths, paramedics, pharmacists, physiotherapists, podiatrists and psychologists.

The 2024/2025 annual report reveals that 13,327 notifications were received about health practitioners nationally - an increase of approximately 19% on notifications made in the previous year, with the highest rate of notifications directed towards medical practitioners and the most common concern being clinical care.

Specific to medical practitioners, the key findings of the report include:

Notifications

7,562 notifications were made about medical practitioners. Overall, 6.1% of all registered medical practitioners had a notification made about them nationally. The two most common sources of notifications were either the patient (82.7%) or other practitioners (7.2%).

Common complaints

The most common complaints made against medical practitioners related to clinical care (38.6%), communication (17.3%), medications (11%), record keeping (6.8%) and behaviour (5.4%). This is relatively consistent with the previous year, although there was a steady increase in complaints generally.

Immediate action

Immediate action was taken in respect of 374 medical practitioners, representing a slight reduction from the previous year. Out of these notifications, 19 practitioners were suspended, 15 had their registration cancelled, and 18 were disqualified from applying for registration in the future.

Mandatory notifications

Mandatory notifications made up 11.6% of all notifications received, with 503 mandatory notifications relating to medical practitioners (32.6%). The most common complaints made against medical practitioners were about professional standards (315), impairment (112), sexual misconduct (59) and practising while intoxicated (17).

Criminal complaints and boundary violations

147 criminal offence complaints were made against medical practitioners, a slight decrease from the previous year. Three criminal prosecutions were also completed and related to practising medicine while not holding registration, engaging in misleading conduct by pretending to be a doctor, and obstructing a criminal investigation.

Specific to medical practitioners, the Medical Board of Australia was also focused on cosmetic surgery and procedures, having held extensive consultation in 2025 regarding two new guidelines that came into effect in September 2025.

The Medical Board of Australia also noted other areas of concern, being the writing of medical certificates, the integration of artificial intelligence in healthcare and the increase in the prescription of medical cannabis.