Renewal fact sheet for practitioners with conditions on registration

All Chinese medicine practitioners, including those with conditions on their registration, can apply online to renew registration. If you have conditions on your registration, Ahpra may request more information from you to complete your application for renewal. Ahpra will contact you if this is required.

Ahpra, on behalf of the Board, is required to monitor and check any practitioner’s compliance with conditions, to ensure adherence, and reduce risk of harm to the public. Any practitioner with a condition on their registration may be asked for further information. This includes practitioners with supervision conditions, English language conditions, education conditions and other conditions imposed at the time of registration.

The Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory (the National Law), allows Ahpra, on behalf of the Board, to ask for information from a practitioner.

If you have conditions on your registration, once your renewal application is lodged, you may be asked to provide further information, complete a form and/or be required to provide evidence that you are meeting the conditions on your registration. Ahpra will contact you if this is required.

Once you have provided the requested information, your renewal application will be assessed on an individual basis.

You will remain registered and can continue to practise while your application for renewal is being assessed. Ahpra will contact you if there is any possibility that your registration status will change.

You may be asked to sign a declaration, and answer questions, stating that you have been compliant with your conditions, e.g. English language conditions, on your registration. This is similar to the declaration required in the application for renewal, when you are asked about compliance with the registration standards (recency, CPD, PII, and CH). As you have additional conditions on your registration, there is an additional requirement to confirm your compliance.

If you have not been compliant with the conditions upon your registration there is an opportunity to respond and provide further information. The Board will consider any submission you make, and you will remain registered and can still practise while your application for renewal is being assessed.

For further information on the requirements to meet conditions upon your registration, and if clarification is required, please go to the Frequently Asked Questions:

• English language FAQ 
• Education registration conditions FAQ 

Further information is available at the frequently asked questions on the website.

Suitable interpreter

The requirement to use an interpreter is only applicable 'where the practitioner and the patient do not share a common language'. In these cases, a suitable interpreter must be used. An accredited interpreter does not have to be used, as this requirement is not included in the standard.

The definition of a ‘suitable interpreter’ is an adult who:

• has experience in health interpreting; 
• is agreed to by both the patient and the practitioner; 
• is considered by both the patient and the practitioner to be competent in communicating in their respective languages; and 
• agrees not to compromise privacy and confidentiality.

An interpreter should be someone who can communicate effectively with your patient in their language, based on your professional judgment. It cannot be a practitioner who also has English language conditions on their registration.

It may be appropriate, if the patient agrees, to use a friend or family member of the patient. You do not have to employ an interpreter, either full-time or part-time.

Common language

Common language is defined as a language which you:

• are competent in communicating in for the purpose of practising Chinese medicine 
• reasonably believe that the patient is competent in communicating in, and 
• reasonably believe will ensure that effective two-way communication occurs (whether by speaking and/or otherwise communicating, for example reading and writing).

Entering information into the patient’s record

The standard states that on any occasion when an interpreter is present throughout a consultation, a record of that arrangement should be made on the patient’s case record.

Sufficient English language

The standard states that there should always be a person on the premises who has sufficient English language proficiency to communicate swiftly and effectively with an emergency service. If you are not confident of your ability to communicate effectively in English with emergency services, then when treatment is carried out, another person with adequate English should be present on the premises to communicate with emergency services.

In the circumstances of an emergency, you need to exercise your own professional judgment in deciding whether your ability to communicate in English, is sufficient to communicate with an emergency service.

Presence of a suitable interpreter entered into the patient’s record

Where you and the patient do not share a common language the presence of a suitable interpreter should have been entered into the patient’s record, on every occasion that a consultation and/or treatment took place. Ahpra may ask for evidence/documentation that indicates that this has occurred. 

Person with sufficient English language proficiency to communicate promptly and efficiently with emergency services

The standard states that there should always be a person on the premises who has sufficient English language proficiency to communicate swiftly and effectively with an emergency service. If you are not confident of your ability to communicate effectively in English with emergency services, then when treatment is carried out, another person with adequate English should be present on the premises to communicate with emergency services.

If you decide that your ability to communicate in English is sufficient to communicate with an emergency service in the circumstances of an emergency, then you are the person on the premises.