Chinese medicine regulation at work: Protecting the public in 2015/16

02 Mar 2017

A profession-specific annual report summary that looks into the work of the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia over the year to 30 June 2016 has now been published.

The report draws on data from the 2015/16 annual report by AHPRA and the National Boards. Information includes the number of applications for registration, outcomes of criminal history checks and segmentation of the registrant base by gender, age, division and principal place of practice.

Notifications information includes the number of complaints or concerns received, matters open and closed during the year, types of complaint, and matters involving immediate action.

Insights into the profession include:

• 4,762 Chinese medicine practitioners were registered as of 30 June 2016. 
• Registration for the profession grew by 6% from 30 June 2015. 
• Chinese medicine practitioners accounted for 0.7% of all registered health practitioners in Australia. 
• 55% of these registrants are women; 45% are men. 
• New South Wales was the principal place of practice for most of these practitioners (1,953; 41%); the Northern Territory was home to the least (17; 0.4%). 
• The age bracket with the most practitioners was 40-44 (673; 14%). 
• 39 practitioners were under 25 years of age (0.8% of the profession); 14 were over 80 (0.3% of the profession). 
• 1,318 people registered as students of the profession, a decrease of 11% year on year. 
• As part of the registration process, 933 criminal history checks were carried out. Of 60 disclosable court outcomes, none required regulatory action. 
• 54 notifications (complaints or concerns) were lodged about Chinese medicine practitioners during the year, equating to 1.1% of the profession.

To download this report, or to view the main 2015/16 annual report and summary reports by state or territory, visit our microsite.

AHPRA and the National Boards have also published summary reports that break down 2015/16 data for the remaining 13 boards in the National Scheme.

For more information

• Visit the AHPRA website 
• Lodge an online enquiry form 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9275 9009 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200