Changes to the requirement for nurses and midwives to make mandatory notifications came into effect on 1 March 2020.

As registered health practitioners, nurses and midwives are mandatory notifiers and must make a notification in specified circumstances. Mandatory notifications help to protect the public by ensuring that health professional regulators are alerted to any potential risks to the public. 

The changes are outlined in a set of revised guidelines, published by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) and the National Boards. The revised guidelines establish a new, higher threshold for treating practitioners to report impairment, intoxication or practice that significantly departs from accepted standards. This change aims to support health practitioners to seek help about their health without fearing a mandatory notification. Also, the revised guidelines have been restructured to present information that is easy to find for each notifier group.

Understanding when to make a mandatory notification and when not to is vital when it comes to protecting the public and supporting your colleagues. AHPRA has released a range of new resources including videos, case studies and a myth-busting FAQ to help practitioners understand the changes.

The revised guidelines and supporting resources are available on AHPRA’s website.