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Welcome to the March update. This edition highlights the Board’s focus on practical, proportionate regulation that sustains high standards and community trust. We outline the National Boards’ new guidance on adding sexual misconduct findings to the national register of practitioners ahead of changes to the National Law in April. We also highlight greater protections for people who raise concerns, including new offences for retaliation and misuse of non‑disclosure agreements.
As part of our shared responsibility for public safety, we reinforce practitioners’ and employers’ obligations to report concerns when care departs from accepted standards. We are all part of the National Scheme and as such we are, individually and collectively, expected and required to act in a manner that shows the trust we are given is deserved.
Dr Simon Shanahan Chair, Dental Board of Australia
Ahpra has launched a new five-year strategy to further protect the public and strengthen trust in Australia’s health system.
The National Scheme Strategy 2031 outlines a major reform agenda to ensure health practitioner regulation keeps pace with growing demand, new models of care and changes in society.
The Strategy focuses on three priorities:
The Strategy also commits to elevating community voices and improving people’s experience of the National Scheme, with interactions that are timely, transparent and empathetic.
Ahpra CEO Justin Untersteiner said the Strategy reflects the need to evolve while staying focused on public protection. Robust governance and collaborative leadership will guide National Scheme partners as the reforms are delivered over the next five years.
Read more in the news item.
Ahpra has published the National Boards' new guidance on adding information about sexual misconduct to the register of practitioners.
Under changes to the National Law, practitioners who have a tribunal finding of professional misconduct with a basis of sexual misconduct will have this information permanently added to the public register. It will be retrospective and come into effect in April 2026.
The Guidance: Sexual misconduct and the National Law is a key resource for National Boards and also provides information for practitioners and the public. It outlines the process Boards will follow, the scope of their considerations, the factors affecting their decisions, how they will engage with affected practitioners, and when and how information will be published on the register.
People who alert regulators to concerns about health practitioners now have greater protection under changes to the National Law.
It is now an offence to retaliate against anyone who raises concerns with regulators, or to seek to use non-disclosure agreements to impede investigations.
These offences are punishable by fines, for both individuals and companies, and disciplinary action when health practitioners have been involved.
Other changes to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law will see additional information added to the publicly available and searchable Register of practitioners.
The Ahpra website has further information about the complaints process, and the support available to notifiers, including those with concerns about sexual misconduct by a practitioner.
The Dental Board has approved Charles Darwin University’s (CDU) Bachelor of Oral Health Therapy for registration as an oral health therapist, dental hygienist and dental therapist from 1 January 2026, following the program’s successful accreditation by the Australian Dental Council.
This is the first program of study in the Northern Territory leading to registration as a dental practitioner and represents an important contribution to developing a locally trained oral health workforce.
Use Ahpra’s search tool to find approved programs of study.
The Board recently held two public consultations, on the review of the Endorsement for conscious sedation registration standard and on a draft registration standard: General registration for experienced internationally qualified health practitioners. The Board received good engagement from organisations and individuals on both consultations and thanks all submitters for the time and care taken to provide your views to the Board.
Consultation is an important part of regulatory policy development. The feedback received is carefully considered and helps identify risks, unintended impacts and opportunities to strengthen outcomes before decisions are finalised. Visit the Board’s Past consultations page to view closed public consultations.
Use the Board’s self-reflective tool to review your recordkeeping against the Code of conduct, spot gaps and plan improvements. Work through the questions on your own or with your team, then use the insights to guide your CPD, and update systems and protocols. It’s a practical way to support safe, continuous care and meet regulatory expectations.
Read the accompanying fact sheet and download the tool from the Board’s website.
The most recent workforce data to December 2025 has been released. A comparison with data from December 2024 shows modest growth in the number of practitioners registered with the Board.
Visit our Statistics page for more data.
Significant penalties have been handed down by NSW courts in cases where health practitioners worked while unregistered. Working while unregistered is not a paperwork error, it can be a criminal offence.
A NSW radiographer pleaded guilty to four counts of holding himself out as a registered practitioner while providing mobile radiography services at four aged care facilities. The practitioner’s registration lapsed in April 2021 and despite receiving multiple reminders from Ahpra he did not renew and continued to perform radiography services over the next two years. His employer was also convicted and fined for failing to check that one of its practitioners was registered.
In an unrelated case, a nurse who worked unregistered at two regional health services in NSW has been sentenced to a 12-month community corrections order and ordered to pay legal costs. The woman had previously been registered as an enrolled nurse but failed to renew her registration, which lapsed in July 2023. Despite receiving multiple renewal reminders, she continued working unregistered.
It is unacceptable for any health practitioner to work when they are not registered. We also expect employers to hold their employees to account to help protect the public.
In response to recent media coverage about a medical professional who is under investigation by Ahpra for allegedly performing unnecessary surgeries, Ahpra issues the following advice.
The health professions have a critical role to play in actively supporting ongoing efforts to maintain the highest healthcare standards in Australia.
Every Australian health practitioner has an obligation to notify Ahpra if they believe another practitioner is placing the public at risk by departing from accepted professional standards. So do employers. That’s a mandatory reporting requirement under the National Law.
The Ahpra website has further information about the complaints process, and the support available to notifiers.
Ahpra has issued a rare public statement to protect the public from a man whose conduct is under investigation. The public statement names Bill Tolis, a cancelled and prohibited medical practitioner, who Ahpra fears may be continuing to provide health services despite being banned.
Ahpra is working with other agencies to investigate Tolis. Anyone who suspects they may have received any health treatment from Tolis, or who has information that he has claimed to be a medical practitioner or provided a health service, is encouraged to contact Ahpra’s Criminal Offences Unit via [email protected].
This is only the second public statement issued under legislation that allows Ahpra to publicly name an individual where it is deemed necessary to protect public health or safety.
As always, we encourage you to regularly check the Dental Board website for information and updates relating to the dental profession.
