Osteopathy regulation at work: Protecting the public in 2017/18

14 Feb 2019

A profession-specific annual report summary that looks into the work of the Osteopathy Board of Australia (the Board) over the 12 months to 30 June 2018 has now been published.

The report draws on data from the 2017/18 annual report by AHPRA and the National Boards. This information provides a snapshot of the profession as at 30 June 2018, and includes the number of applications for registration, outcomes of practitioner audits 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 opened and closed during the year, types of complaint, monitoring and compliance and matters involving immediate action.

Insights into the profession include:

• 2,389 osteopaths were registered in 2017/18.
• 273 new applications for registration were received.
• Osteopaths make up 0.3% of all registered health practitioners in Australia.
• The number of osteopaths increased by 7.1% from 2016/17.
• 54.7% osteopaths are women; 45.3% are men.
• Victoria (Vic) was the principal place of practice for most osteopaths (1,358).
• Northern Territory (NT) was home to the smallest number (3).
• The age bracket with the largest number of osteopaths was 30-34 (450).
• 68 osteopaths were under 25 years of age.
• 7 were aged 80 or over.
• 17 notifications (complaints or concerns) were lodged with AHPRA about osteopaths (this total does not include complaints retained by Health Professional Councils Authority and the Health Care Complaints Commission in NSW and the Office of the Health Ombudsman in Queensland).
• AHPRA closed 17 notifications about osteopaths in 2017/18.
• 9 cases were being monitored by AHPRA at 30 June 2018 for compliance with restrictions placed on their registration.
• Immediate action was considered 3 times and taken once.
• 5 complaints were made about possible statutory offences by osteopaths during the year; 7 were closed. 2 of the new matters related to title protection; 2 to advertising breaches; 1 to ‘other’ offence.

To download this report, or to view the main 2017/18 annual report and summary reports by state or territory, visit the AHPRA website.

In January and February 2019, AHPRA and the National Boards are publishing summaries that break down 2017/18 data for 13 other 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