August 2024

Connections

Issue 40 - August 2024

From the Chair
Priority news
- Aligning our core competencies with international benchmarks
Board news
Registration news
- Latest workforce data released
Regulation at work
- Latest tribunal and court summaries
What’s new?
Keep in touch with the Board

From the Chair

Rachel Phillips

Some 2,500 years ago, the Greek philosopher Heraclitus said: ‘There is nothing permanent except change’. The ongoing work to define and update the core competencies for psychology in Australia and internationally shows that statement to be as true now as it was millennia ago.

You can read more below about the international efforts to ensure community access to high quality psychology services, and how we are aligning our competencies with this work.

Rachel Phillips
Chair, Psychology Board of Australia

Priority news

Aligning our core competencies with international benchmarks

Our Chair reports on the recent international meeting.

I have been fortunate to be a member of the International Project on Competence in Psychology (IPCP). A major outcome of the project (before my time!) was the launch of the Declaration of Core Competencies in Professional Psychology in 2016.

The group recently met in Prague prior to the International Congress of Psychology 2024 conference. Fourteen countries were represented where the focus on the meeting was the importance of ongoing international discourse about the core competencies of the Psychology profession to ensure community access to high quality psychological services. You can find out more about the IPCP on its website.

Over the last four years we have been working on updating the competencies for general registration in Australia as part of our education training and reform program of work. We have now released advance copies of the new competencies, which have been refreshed to improve alignment with international benchmarks. You can read more about the updates on the Psychology Board's website.

Board news

National Board appointment: meet our new member

Image of a woman In March we welcomed Ms Sheena Neill to the National Board as our new practitioner member from the Northern Territory. Sheena brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Board having worked in forensic, organisational and clinical settings within correctional services and the defence force. Read more about Sheena on our Board members page.

The National Board is made up of 12 members who are appointed by the Ministerial Council. Eight members must be registered psychologists − one from each state and territory. Four additional members are appointed as community members and bring a public perspective to the work of the Board. Members are appointed for a three-year term and can serve up to three consecutive terms.

If you would like to receive notice of National Board vacancies when they are advertised, please contact Statutory Appointments from your preferred email address, advising which professions you are interested in.

Mandatory reporting of child sexual abuse in Western Australia

From 1 May 2024, psychologists in Western Australia are now legally required to report child sexual abuse to the Department of Communities.

To learn about the laws in WA and how to make a report, visit the WA Department of Communities’ website. Resources include a mandatory reporting guide and various FAQs.

The Department of Communities can be contacted on 1800 708 704 to report immediate concerns for the safety of a child, discuss reporting procedures, or speak with a specialist in child protection.

Updated general registration competencies released

Advance copies of the Professional competencies for psychology are now available on the Board's website, 15 months ahead of their implementation on 1 December 2025.

The competencies have been refreshed to:

strengthen cultural safety in line with the changes to the National Law, including the paramount importance of public protection and the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
provide more detail about our requirements for working with diverse groups
incorporate essential elements that are currently missing, including information about self-care, reflexive practice, and digital health practice
improve alignment with international benchmarks.

The new competencies have been released more than a year in advance to give psychologists plenty of time to prepare and adapt their practice.

The competencies for general registration are being updated to ensure they continue to be relevant and useful for practitioners, and are an effective regulatory tool to ensure safe and effective psychology practice.

Ministerial Council has approved removing the current competencies from the provisional and general registration standards to take effect on the same date, 1 December 2025.

We have developed fact sheets and FAQs to help people transition to the updated competencies, highlighting the competencies that have undergone the most change.

We encourage practitioners to self-assess against the professional competencies using the self-assessment template. This will help practitioners to develop their continuing professional development learning plan and ensure they meet the competencies relevant to their scope of practice.

We consulted on the proposed changes in 2023 and have published a consultation report on the Past consultations webpage to provide you with a summary of the feedback.

The current competencies for general registration will continue to be used until the updated competencies take effect.

Registration news

Latest workforce data released

The Board’s latest quarterly registration data report covers the period to 30 June 2024. At this date, there were 48,240 registered psychologists, including 38,859 with general registration, 7,560 with provisional registration and 1,821 with non-practising registration.

There were 373 practitioners who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or 0.8 per cent of the profession.

For further data breakdowns by division, age, gender and principal place of practice, visit the Board’s Statistics page to read the report.

Regulation at work

Latest court and tribunal summaries

Failure to maintain professional boundaries or manage conflict of interest sees psychologist suspended for 12 months

A provisionally registered psychologist has been reprimanded and had his registration suspended until 18 May 2025, for breaching professional boundaries and failing to disclose or manage a conflict of interest in his care of a client.

What’s new?

Good virtual care practices

Over 25 per cent of Australians have had at least one telehealth consultation for their own health in the last 12 months, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data.

Ahpra and the National Boards have published virtual care information for health practitioners, the public and employers about accessing and providing safe and effective virtual care.

Practitioners and consumers are increasingly choosing virtual care alternatives as we continue to see growth in the adoption of technology, online prescribing and the use of health ‘apps’. What was once seen as a temporary approach to enable healthcare in a global pandemic is now widely accepted as just another way to see your practitioner.

These documents replace the previous Telehealth guidance for practitioners which was developed to address the impact of COVID-19 restrictions.

This information is not new and relies on the existing principles within the National Boards’ regulatory framework, such as codes of conduct and other relevant standards and guidelines. It has been developed as a helpful resource for healthcare providers and consumers to understand what good virtual care should look like.

Greater protection for the public under National Law changes

The recent series of amendments to the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law are now complete, with a final suite of changes being introduced from 1 July.

A key update for practitioners is that you can now nominate an alternative name to go on the register, alongside your legal name.

Some health practitioners may practise under an alternative name, such as a traditional name or an anglicised or shortened name.

Having both your legal name and your alternative name appear on the public register will make it easier for the public to search the register and make informed decisions about their care.

You can find more information about alternative names and how to nominate on the Ahpra website.

Other changes to the National Law from 1 July include:

allowing National Boards and Ahpra to issue interim prohibition orders to unregistered persons in certain circumstances where the person poses a serious risk to others
establishing the process regarding renewal of a practitioner’s registration after a period of suspension
empowering the National Boards to include previously excluded information in the National Register if there is a reasonable belief the circumstances have changed
enabling the Ministerial Council to delegate its power to approve registration standards to an appropriate entity.

Australia’s health system, as well as the reasons and ways people access it, has changed dramatically over the 15 years.

These reforms allow the regulation scheme to evolve with it, strengthening Ahpra and National Boards’ ability to protect the public and support practitioners.

More information about the changes, as well as future areas of focus and ways to provide feedback can be found on Ahpra's website.

Myths and misconceptions about notifications – getting the help you need

Too often, practitioners struggle in silence when they are dealing with a health, mental health or drug and alcohol issue – or even just the day-to-day challenges of being a health practitioner.

The best thing you can do – for yourself, for your family, and for your clients – is to seek help early and to actively engage in recommended treatments. This might be from your own GP, another health practitioner or from one of the many independent practitioner support services available.

There is a common misconception that if you seek help, your treating practitioner will automatically be required to report you to Ahpra and your registration may be affected.

The threshold for when treating practitioners need to make a mandatory notification about health is only met when the public is at substantial risk of harm. The need for a mandatory notification to be made is not often met.

If you are managing your health and getting the help you need, you can usually continue to practise. The Board wants you to be healthy and safe to practise and encourages you to seek help early when you need support.

New checklist to help practitioners manage complaints

A Checklist for practitioners has been developed to help resolve feedback or complaints made directly to practitioners or the health service where you are working.

We know that receiving negative feedback or a complaint can be confronting and stressful and as well as this resource we have published a list of general support services.

You might find this checklist helpful when a complaint is first raised with you by a patient or client, and it may also be relevant to those who have a role in establishing and maintaining complaints systems and processes at a health service.

When feedback or complaints are managed well, they can result in improvements that increase patient, client, and community confidence in you as a practitioner. It can also help prevent a concern escalating to an external complaint body or regulator.

The checklist was developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care, Ahpra and the 15 National Boards as part of a joint project with the Commission, with work also underway on resources to help consumers navigate the various complaints options available.

The checklist, along with other resources covering a range of topics to support your practice, is available on Ahpra’s Resources page.

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 clients, families, carers and

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

Review to ease the complexity of health regulation

You may have heard there is a review underway to examine the complexity of the National Scheme.

The Review of complexity in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (the Dawson Review) began in May 2024, and is led by the former NSW Health Care Complaints Commissioner Sue Dawson.

The independent review aims to identify areas of the National Scheme that are unnecessarily complex and recommend changes that will improve regulatory outcomes for health practitioners and the community.

Six terms of reference outline the scope of the review. These will consider:

how to streamline and harmonise decision-making to improve consistency in regulation
how to make complaints management more consumer-driven, consistent, accessible and efficient
how to make tribunal decision-making more consistent
stewardship of the National Scheme
how to manage new professions entering the National Scheme, and
the powers ministers have to direct entities exercising accreditation functions.

The National Scheme has been reviewed many times. Why conduct another review?

While the National Scheme overwhelmingly fulfils its paramount objective of public protection, there are opportunities to simplify complaints processes and improve fairness, consistency and the experiences of consumers and practitioners.

This review will help the National Scheme meet the expectations of notifiers, practitioners and the community.

Have your say

Ms Dawson will consult with governments, regulators, health professions, peak bodies and consumers at a later stage of the review.

Stay up to date with the review webpage for information on stakeholder consultation and how to participate when it becomes available.

The review is expected to be completed by April 2025.

Keep in touch with the Board

Visit the Psychology Board website for information on the National Scheme and for the mandatory registration standards, codes, guidelines, policies and fact sheets.
Lodge an enquiry form via the website by following the Contact us link on the bottom of every page.
For registration enquiries call 1300 419 495 (from within Australia) or +61 3 9125 3010 (for overseas callers).
Address mail correspondence to: Rachel Phillips, Chair, Psychology Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958 Melbourne VIC 3001.