Psychology 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 Psychology 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 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 that necessitated immediate action to suspend or impose conditions upon a practitioner’s registration while an investigation took place.

Insights into the profession include:

• 33,907 psychologists were registered in 2015/16. 
• Registration for the profession grew by 3.5% year on year. 
• Psychologists accounted for 5.2% of all registered health practitioners in Australia. 
• 79% of these registrants are women; 21% are men. 
• New South Wales was the principal place of practice for the majority of psychologists (11,236); the Northern Territory was home to the fewest (229). 
• The age bracket with the most practitioners was 30-34 (5,098 registrants). 
• 938 practitioners were under 25 years of age; 76 were aged 80 or over. 
• As part of the registration process, 3,059 criminal history checks were carried out for psychologists. Of 183 disclosable court outcomes, one required regulatory action. 
• 528 notifications (complaints or concerns) were lodged about psychologists during the year, equating to 1.5% 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