2023/24 annual summary

Osteopathy in 2023/24

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2023/24 annual report Download the
Board's data tables

Registration

3,526 osteopaths
- Up 6.0% from 2022/23
- 0.4% of all registered health practitioners
273 first-time registrants
- 256 domestic (including new graduates)
- 17 international
0.8% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Gender

Female	Male
54.0%	46.0%

54% Female
46% Male

Age

<255.1%
25-3440.7%
35-4427.3%
45-5416.6%
55-646.1%
65-743.7%
75+0.6%

Regulation

39 notifications lodged with Ahpra about 35 osteopaths
55 notifications about 47 osteopaths made Australia-wide, including HPCA and OHO data
1.3% of the profession Australia-wide

Sources of notifications

53.8% Patient, relative or member of the public
23.1% Other practitioner
5.1% Police, government or co-regulator
5.1% Board initiated
12.8% Other

Most common types of complaints

15.4% Behaviour
15.4% Boundary violation
15.4% Breach of non-offence provision - National Law
15.4% Clinical care
10.3% Offence against other law
28.2% Other

Notifications closed

33 notifications closed

9.1% Cautioned or reprimanded
6.1% Conditions imposed on registration
21.2% Referred to another body or retained by a health complaints organisation
63.6% No further regulatory action (including where practitioner has taken steps to address)

2 immediate actions taken
7 mandatory notifications received
- 3 about professional standards
- 3 about impairment
- 1 about sexual misconduct
5 practitioners monitored for health, performance and/or conduct
3 criminal offence complaints made
4 notifications decided by a tribunal
No matters decided by a panel
1 appeal lodged

Issues this year

The Osteopathy Board of Australia carried out consultations for four registration standards in conjunction with other National Boards: English language, criminal history, recency of practice and continuing professional development. The Board also completed preliminary consultation on introducing limited registration standards. Board members served on many other committees and reference groups in the National Scheme to develop multiprofession initiatives.

Accreditation

The Chair and CEO of the Australian Osteopathic Accreditation Council (AOAC) met with the Board online every two months. The Board conducted a scheduled review of accreditation arrangements.

Stakeholder engagement

Local

The Board held an evening forum at the Gold Coast campus of Southern Cross University for osteopathy registrants based in the area from Brisbane to northern New South Wales.

The Chair participated in the quarterly Osteopathy Think Tank organised by Osteopathy Australia (OA), which is focused on education, workforce issues, research, data and information sharing, and also participated in the consultations and reviews within the National Scheme. The Chair continued to attend Osteopathic Research Alliance meetings, which comprise academic and individual osteopathy researchers in Australia.

Regular separate meetings were held with AOAC, the Osteopathy Council of New South Wales and OA. These meetings were mainly virtual.

Three newsletters were sent to registered osteopaths and students, and we published social media posts on various issues and events such as World Osteopathic Healthcare Week in April. A short social media post celebrating 45 years of osteopathy regulation in Australia was viewed 5,000 times.

International

The Chairs, Executive Officer and Registrars of the Board, the Osteopathy Council of New Zealand and the UK’s General Osteopathic Council met regularly during the year, either virtually or in association with the 2023 Osteopathic International Alliance (OIA) conference in London. The OIA conference is the annual meeting for osteopathy regulators and associations from across the world, and planning is underway for the next OIA conference to be held in Sydney in October 2024.

Strengthening the community voice

The Board moved quickly to balance the numbers of community and practitioner members on its registration and notifications decision-making committee. This was an approach set out in the blueprint to better protect patients from sexual misconduct in healthcare.

The committee previously had six practitioners and three community members. The Board was pleased to appoint an experienced community member from another Board, Dr Miriam Weisz OAM, for a period of 12 months until the vacant community member position on the Board is filled.

Other news

The Board farewelled Dr Nikole Grbin and thanked her for her tireless work as the practitioner member from South Australia for 11 years, and for her leadership as Chair of the Board since October 2014.

The Board also farewelled Dr Pamela Dennis, practitioner member from Tasmania, with 10 years of service on the Board; Dr Andrew Yaksich from Western Australia, with nine years Board experience; and Dr Julia Duffy, community member from Queensland. We welcomed three practitioner members: Dr Casey Beaumont from South Australia, Ms Zoe Wood from Tasmania and Dr Kate Locke from Western Australia.

Associate Professor Paul Orrock, Chair

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