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Health practitioners face new international criminal history check
The international criminal history of nurses, midwives and allied health professionals will go under the microscope for the first time.
The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) has today launched new safeguards to examine the international criminal records of some health practitioners.
Under the new process, an AHPRA-approved supplier will verify the criminal history of certain practitioners.
Previously, health professionals were asked to declare their international criminal history but there was no external verification process.
Under the National Law, the 14 National Boards are required to review the criminal history of applicants who apply for registration as health practitioners in Australia.
The boards, which oversee 619,509 health practitioners registered to practise in Australia, completed 61,000 domestic criminal record checks alone in the last financial year.
The new international criminal history check (ICHC) applies to new applicants seeking registration if they declare a criminal history outside of Australia or have lived abroad for six months or longer since the age of 18.
It affects current registered practitioners who want to renew their registration or apply for a change in registration type and have experienced a change to their criminal history in other countries.
The process also applies to registered practitioners who inform one of the National Boards that they have been charged with an offence outside Australia punishable by a 12-month or longer imprisonment sentence, or if they have been convicted, pleaded guilty or found guilty for an offence outside Australia that carries a jail sentence.
Health professionals registered under the Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition will also be affected if they declare a criminal history overseas or have lived outside Australia for at least six months since the age of 18.
AHPRA CEO Martin Fletcher said the new process aims to strike a balance between public safety and regulatory burden for practitioners.
“Public protection is at the heart of everything we do,” he said.
“We are providing the Australian community with greater assurance by implementing additional safeguards in managing risks to the public from someone’s international criminal history.
“The new approach aligns our international criminal history checks with our domestic history checks and aims to be fair and reasonable for practitioners.”
Health practitioners required to undergo an ICHC must apply for the new check before registration application forms are submitted with AHPRA.
There are no changes to the domestic criminal history check.
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