April 2024

Issue 31 – April 2024

From the Chair
Priority news
- Have your say on the proposed revised guidelines on patient health records
Students and graduates
- Beware of identity theft – don’t post your registration certificate online
Registration news
- Latest workforce data released
What’s new?
Stay in touch with the Board

From the Chair

Prof Danforn Lim CMBA Chair

We welcome our latest Chinese medicine graduates to the profession and remind everyone that you don’t need to post your registration certificate online. Being a registered practitioner is an exciting step on your professional journey and you may want to share this on your social, especially recruitment and networking pages, however we encourage you to keep your information safe and secure. If someone would like to check your registration, they can look you up on the Register of practitioners.

Recently, representatives from the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia met with regulators, educators, and professional bodies of Chinese medicine practitioners in China and Singapore. These engagements offered a constructive platform for knowledge exchange and learning with our international counterparts.

I invite you to give feedback on the proposed revised guidelines on patient health records. This consultation is to ensure our regulatory documents remain dynamic and fit for purpose.

Adjunct Professor Danforn Lim
Chair, Chinese Medicine Board of Australia

Priority news

Have your say on the proposed revised guidelines on patient health records

The Chinese Medicine Board of Australia has opened the public consultation on proposed revised guidelines on patient health records.

The Board is inviting feedback on the proposed revised guidelines that apply to all registered Chinese medicine practitioners.

The Guidelines: patient health records (the guidelines) were first published in 2012 when the profession of Chinese medicine was first regulated under the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the National Scheme). The guidelines were reviewed in 2016 and are now due for review.

The Board has published a consultation paper that sets out the rationale for the changes being considered. This consultation paper includes information on the review and the proposed changes to the current guidelines, along with the draft revised guidelines and supporting documentation. The public consultation documents and information on how to submit a response can be found on the Board’s Current consultations page.

To submit feedback, please provide your comments using the online survey by 5pm (AEST) on Wednesday 5 June 2024.

If you have any queries about the public consultation, the proposed revised guidelines or the online survey, please contact the Board.

Students and graduates

Beware of identity theft – don’t post your registration certificate online

Successfully registering with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) is the last green light for new graduates starting their career in their chosen profession. It’s an exciting step and one to feel immensely proud of. The temptation might be strong to celebrate by sharing your first registration certificate with the world – but think twice before posting.

Identity theft is rife. Every day, websites pop up selling fake Ahpra certificates of registration based on real ones that graduating practitioners have posted on their social media. Never post your identity documents online. You’ve worked hard to earn your registration; don’t let somebody steal it.

Registration news

Latest workforce data released

The Board has released its quarterly registration report to 31 December 2023. At this date, there were 4,927 registered practitioners: 4,538 with general registration, 13 with both general and non-practising registration, 375 non-practising registrants and one practitioner with limited registration.

For more details, including registration data by principal place of practice, age and gender, visit our Statistics page.

What’s new?

Regulators come together as one million Australians turn to medicinal cannabis treatments

Maintaining a balance between access to medicinal cannabis and its safety is a priority for health regulators across Australia amid a growing number of prescriptions and the emergence of telehealth, online prescribing and direct-to-consumer health services. Australia’s medicine regulation system is complex, with different agencies responsible for overseeing the medicines themselves, the health professionals who prescribe and provide them, and the premises where they are stored and dispensed.

In February, Ahpra and several of the National Boards convened a forum in Melbourne that brought together health regulators to share information and regulatory intelligence, discuss any current risks to the public, and determine how all regulators can best work together.

The use of unregistered medicinal cannabis products has spiralled in recent years, from around 18,000 Australians in 2019 to more than one million in January 2024. The number of prescribers accessing the Authorised Prescriber and the Special Access Scheme has also risen sharply to more than 5,700 medical and nurse practitioners prescribing and dispensing medicinal cannabis products that have not been evaluated by the Therapeutic Goods Administration for safety, quality, or efficacy.

The forum attendees agreed to continue discussions with the aim to monitor issues and identify any gaps in the regulatory and wider health response to this rapidly growing industry. In particular:

improving data and information sharing among Australia’s regulatory agencies
gaining a better understanding of the drivers of the recent rapid rise in access to these products
enhancing communication to prescribers, including clinical guidance, on the safe and effective use of medical cannabis products
examining ways of better educating consumers about medicinal cannabis medications, and
encouraging more research to drive the production of clinical guidelines for medicinal cannabis.

Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Statement of Intent

The Ahpra Accreditation Committee has published its Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Statement of Intent. The statement of intent aims to embed interprofessional collaborative practice across the continuum of healthcare settings.

The statement is a fundamental step towards achieving effective team-based and coordinated care across Australia. It is a commitment to improving the outcomes for patients and consumers by reducing the risk of fragmented and uncoordinated care.

Interprofessional collaborative practice is healthcare practice where multiple health workers from different professional backgrounds work together and with patients, families, carers and communities to deliver the highest quality of care that is free of racism and other forms of discrimination.

The statement represents a joint commitment from 53 stakeholders across the health and education sectors to take action.

Ahpra partnership with Weenthunga Health Network guiding critical reform work to eliminate racism in healthcare

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples have the right to access and work in healthcare that is culturally safe and free from racism. The health practitioner regulator’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Strategy Unit is supporting the Cultural Safety Accreditation and Continuing Professional Development Working Group and Weenthunga Health Network, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander consultancy, to co-design and develop nationally consistent standards, codes and guidelines on cultural safety for registered practitioners.

The Cultural Safety Accreditation and Continuing Professional Development Framework and Strategy is a multi-year project, grounded by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of being, knowing and doing. By embedding cultural safety in accreditation and continuing professional development requirements for all 16 regulated health professions in the National Scheme, we will ensure consistency and accountability to protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients and health workers.

Cultural safety is patient safety. Racist and culturally unsafe practice and behaviour towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples will not be tolerated, as seen in the landmark ruling of a doctor banned for discriminatory and offensive behaviour.

Stay in touch with the Board

Visit the Chinese Medicine Board website for news about the profession, information on the National Scheme and for registration standards, codes, guidelines, policies and fact sheets.
Lodge an online enquiry form.
For registration enquiries call 1300 419 495 (from within Australia) or +61 3 9135 3010 (for overseas callers).
Address mail correspondence to: Adjunct Professor Danforn Lim, Chair, Chinese Medicine Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne VIC 3001.