Guide 02 of 05Field: Name
Checking a doctor’s registration
Ahpra keeps a public list of every health practitioner registered to practise in Australia in the professions it covers, called the Register of practitioners, and a name on it means the person is allowed to practise. Where a practitioner’s registration is of a particular type, or carries conditions limiting their practice, Ahpra publishes that on the register too.
General information, not medical or legal advice. The official place to check a practitioner is Ahpra’s register of practitioners, and Ahpra says a name on it means the person is allowed to practise.
Searching
Searching by name or by number
Start with the name the doctor is registered under. Ahpra notes it is not always the name a practitioner is commonly known by, and suggests asking the practitioner, or the health service where they work, which name they registered with.
If the name gives no clear answer, ask for the practitioner’s registration number and search with that instead.
If the name still does not appear, or you have questions about what an entry shows, Ahpra’s register page gives a phone line for a confidential conversation.
Ahpra describes its main role as protecting the public by making sure only practitioners who are suitably trained and qualified, and who practise competently and ethically, are registered. The register is where that work becomes visible to anyone.
Other lists
Two lists of people who must not practise
Alongside the register, Ahpra publishes two further lists: practitioners whose registration has been cancelled, and practitioners who have formally agreed not to practise. Ahpra says no one on either list is allowed to provide any services as a health practitioner.
The law
What the National Law says the register must hold
The register rests on section 222 of the National Law. Subsection (2) says:
“A public national register for a health profession is to include the names of all health practitioners (other than specialist health practitioners) currently registered in the profession.”
Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, s 222(2)
Subsection (4) requires more names. Two of its paragraphs, quoted here as a selection, say: “In addition, a public national register for a health profession is to include”
- “the names of all persons (other than specialist health practitioners or persons who were previously specialist health practitioners) subject to a prohibition order”
- “the names of all persons who were previously registered health practitioners (other than persons who were previously specialist health practitioners) who are subject to an interim prohibition order”
Read the full section in the Law for the rest of subsection (4). Subsection (5) says the register is kept by the National Board prescribed for it, “in conjunction with the National Agency”.
Section 222 does not require the names of specialist health practitioners, and section 223 provides separate registers for them. What the Specialists Register shows covers it.
Limits
What a register entry does not settle
The register shows registration, not how a service went. Ahpra says a complaint about a service or a fee, or a dispute with a provider such as a hospital, clinic or practitioner, belongs with the healthcare complaints organisation in your state or territory.
Doctors are listed in a particular way. The Medical Board says a doctor with both general and specialist registration is named on the Register of medical practitioners and on the Specialists Register, while a doctor with specialist registration only is recorded on the Specialists Register alone.
For a doctor with specialist registration, then, there is a second register to read, and Medicare reads it too: the Medical Board says Medicare uses the public specialist register to confirm a doctor’s specialist registration for a specialist-level rebate. Specialist referrals and Medicare explains the referral side.