Ahpra’s latest annual report shows the number of optometrists continues to grow in Australia but challenges remain in getting those practitioners to where they are most needed.
That was one key takeaway from the 2024/25 report of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and National Boards.
The report revealed the number of registered optometrists rose by 4.1% to 7,340 people in the year to June 2025.
That closely resembled the 4.3% rise in all registered health practitioners in Australia, to 959,858, with a record 870,000 practitioners renewing their registration in 2024/25.
That meant there were now 3.5 practitioners for every 100 Australians, Ahpra said.
“This continues our work to ensure all Australians have access to a safe, high-quality health workforce,” it said.
Optometry Australia (OA) welcomed the report and noted the “steady growth” of optometrists.
“But numbers alone don’t tell the full story,” said OA CEO Ms Skye Cappuccio, who was to step down from the role in December 2025. “Distribution still does not align with community need.
“Although practitioner numbers have grown, this growth is largely concentrated in metropolitan areas. As a result, access to eyecare outside major cities is uneven – some regional and rural communities are serviced by resident optometrists who are working in practices, others rely on intermittent support through the Visiting Optometrists Scheme (VOS), and some pockets of rural Australia continue to face persistent undersupply and limited access to care.”
Cappuccio said adding more optometrists “would not create a prosperous profession or improve care for the public”.
She said OA would continue to promote its Workforce Strategy, which resisted “inappropriate supply expansion”, looked to strengthen workplace conditions, maximised workforce utilisation, raised public awareness of optometry, and aimed to ensure capacity was connected to areas of greatest need.
Cappuccio was impressed by the low number of notifications – or complaints – for optometrists in this year’s annual report, even with the growth in the number of practitioners.
Ahpra said it had received 13,327 notifications about the entire health and medical workforce in the year to June 2025, 19% more than the previous year.
That meant notifications had risen by 34% in the past two years, from 9,706 in 2023/24.
“We closed 12,086 notifications,” Ahpra said in the 2024/25 report. “This was 8.3% more than last year and more than any previous year. At 30 June, there were 5,627 open notifications, 26.7% (1,186) more than last year.”
It said about 50% of the notifications received were categorised as lower risk and managed by an early determination process – an increase from 34.5% the previous year.
While the nature of concerns raised in 2025 was largely similar to the previous year, the number of notifications where the primary concern related to a practitioner’s behaviour increased to 6.9% in 2024/25, from 4.8% the previous year.
Notifications increased across all professions except midwifery and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Practice.
Optometry represented just a fraction of those notifications, with 41 recorded by Ahpra and a total of 81 nationwide. Just one of the 554 Ahpra cases involving “immediate action” involved an optometrist.
The 81 notifications was a rise of six on the previous year and involved 71 practitioners, less than 1% of the registered optometry workforce.
OA said the low rate of notifications was a strong indicator of the profession’s “maturity, ethical culture and high clinical standards”.
“Optometrists practise in a highly regulated, evidence-based environment, and the profession has a strong culture of appropriate referrals, collaborative care and continuing professional development,” said Cappuccio.
“OA supported that through education, CPD, clinical guidelines, ethics resources, quality improvement tools and strong advocacy for safe and contemporary practice.”
She said members had noted improvements in the notification process, including better communication and transparency.
However, OA would continue to advocate for clearer, more timely updates; better recognition of low-risk cases; improved psychological support for practitioners undergoing a notification; and reduction of unnecessary delays and the potential impacts on wellbeing.
Ahpra acknowledged that the experience of going through a regulatory process could be stressful.
That was highlighted in the independent review from Ms Sue Dawson – the former NSW Health Care Complaints Commissioner.
“In line with this review, we are already working on reforming our notifications processes to support better timelines, transparency and procedural fairness,” Ahpra said.
“Public safety remains our number one priority and minimising practitioner distress is not at odds with this goal – it strengthens it. When practitioners feel supported and respected, they are more likely to engage constructively with regulation, maintain their wellbeing and continue to provide safe care.”
On the increase in medical practitioners in Australia, Ahpra CEO Mr Justin Untersteiner said: “Nearly one million practitioners is a significant milestone, but we know growth isn’t just about numbers. We’re working hard to make registration easier while keeping safety front and centre.”
Ahpra said it remained on track to implement the recommendations of the independent Kruk review to bring more health specialists into Australia.
Ophthalmology is expected to be involved in those changes in the near future.
“We simplified English language requirements while maintaining public safety, expanding the list of recognised English-speaking countries from seven to 30 nations and territories,” it said in the report.
It said it also registered more than 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health practitioners for the first time. Of the health practitioner workforce, 1.3% are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
“While this is an increase from last year, it is still well short of where we want to be, and there is much work to do to meet our goal of eliminating racism from the healthcare system.”
