The number of international health practitioners registered to work in Australia over the past year has almost doubled, according to the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency’s (Ahpra) and National Boards’ 2022/23 annual report that also revealed a spike in optometry workforce numbers.
There were 6,762 registered optometrists as per the 2022/23 annual report, an increase of 4% from 2021/22. There were also 403 first-time registrants comprising 380 domestic optometrists and 23 from overseas. A total of 0.2% of all registrants identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
The annual report revealed there were 1,093 ophthalmologists in Australia, compared to 1,087 since the 2021/22 report.
The overall increase of internationally trained practitioners is being attributed to an overhaul of the registration process which has seen a reduction in the time taken to register overseas trained and graduate practitioners. According to Ahpra CEO Mr Martin Fletcher, assessment times for international applicants have been reduced from 29 days to just 10, and from 11 days to seven for Australian graduates.
A total of 877,119 registered health practitioners were registered across 16 regulated professions at 30 June 2023, an increase of almost 3% over the past year.
More than 42,000 newly registered Australian health graduates were joined by 19,288 overseas-trained practitioners. There was a 92% increase in new overseas registrants, and more than half were nurses and midwives. Meanwhile, the Medical Board of Australia welcomed 4,211 internationally trained doctors in 2022/23.
Increased exam places for internationally qualified nurses, enhanced information for employers and clearer information for international applicants on the Ahpra website all contributed to the workforce boost.
“To address workforce shortages, we have cut the complexity and time it takes to register practitioners and get them ready to work where they are most needed,” Fletcher said.
“Public safety is the paramount principle driving everything we do. That not only means making sure that every registered health practitioner is skilled and suited for their vital role, but also doing everything we can to ensure there are more health workers to meet demand.”
A five-year trend of increasing practitioner registrations per capita now means there are 3.3 registered health practitioners for every 100 Australians.
However, more work is required to increase the rates of practitioners identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander working in the nation’s health systems. In 2022/23, 10,813 health practitioners identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander which constitutes 1.2% of all registered health practitioners – short of the 3.8% representation in the general population.
To achieve greater representation, the total number of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander staff, board and committee members has increased to 48, including eight new appointments of Board and committee members and nine new staff members over the past year.
Nationally there was an 8.6% drop in notifications made about practitioners, with 1.5% of Australia’s registered health practitioners having a concern raised about them in 2022/23.
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