2023/24 annual summary

Physiotherapy in 2023/24

Explore Ahpra and the National Boards’
2023/24 annual report Download the
Board's data tables

Registration

44,895 physiotherapists
- Up 6.6% from 2022/23
- 4.9% of all registered health practitioners
4,393 first-time registrants
- 2,127 domestic (including new graduates)
- 2,266 international
0.7% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

Gender

Female	Male
63.5%	36.5%

63.5% Female
36.5% Male

Age

<256.3%
25-3441.6%
35-4426.2%
45-5413.7%
55-648.6%
65-743.2%
75+0.4%

Regulation

201 notifications lodged with Ahpra about 141 physiotherapists
320 notifications about 234 physiotherapists made Australia-wide, including HPCA and OHO data
- 0.5% of the profession Australia-wide

Sources of notifications

68.2% Patient, relative or member of the public
8.0% Other practitioner
7.5% Employer
6.0% Board initiated
4.5% Police, government or co-regulator
6.0% Other

Most common types of complaints

24.9% Clinical care
20.9% Behaviour
10.9% Communication
10.0% Breach of non-offence provision – National Law
8.5% Offence against other law
24.9% Other

Notifications closed

196 notifications closed

7.7% Conditions imposed on registration or an undertaking accepted
5.1% Cautioned or reprimanded
4.1% Registration suspended or disqualified from applying
12.2% Referred to another body or retained by a health complaints organisation
70.9% No further regulatory action (including where practitioner has taken steps to address)

18 immediate actions taken
22 mandatory notifications received
- 9 about professional standards
- 7 about sexual misconduct
- 6 about impairment
27 practitioners monitored for health, performance and/or conduct
30 criminal offence complaints made
8 notifications decided by a tribunal
No matters decided by a panel
9 appeals lodged

Workforce

The Physiotherapy Board of Australia continued its important work on understanding the physiotherapy workforce in Australia.

The Board focused on a number of initiatives, including the collaborative research with the Australian Physiotherapy Association (APA) on physiotherapist attrition rates. The aim of this research is to help understand why physiotherapists are leaving the profession.

Practitioners were surveyed and interviewed to ascertain the reasons for changing careers or moving away from clinical practice. The results of this research will be published and used to inform the workforce strategic plan into the future.

In addition, the Board, in partnership with the Australian Physiotherapy Council, has been reviewing the process for assessing overseas practitioners to register for practice in Australia and has facilitated more efficient ways of supporting overseas-trained practitioners to become registered in Australia. The Express FLYR Pathway was launched in July 2023 to expedite the Australian registration of practitioners from comparable countries.

Practice thresholds

The Board, in conjunction with the Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand, revised the bi-national practice thresholds. The focus of the review was to update the key competencies on providing culturally safe care and digital competency, to reflect the increasing reliance on technology to deliver services remotely.

Strategic projects – prescribing

The Board, in partnership with the APA, is exploring the public value of prescribing by physiotherapists.

The Board carried out several activities to investigate the potential risks and benefits of physiotherapy prescribing through analysis, evidence gathering, dialogue and engagement with stakeholders and practitioners.

The Board and the APA formed a national working group, which is made up of physiotherapy practitioners from various clinical settings and areas of expertise, representatives from the APA and the Board, and a number of prescribers and consumers.

The working group is focused on developing a position on physiotherapy prescribing, assessing its potential public value and determining the clinical settings that would be suitable.

Ahpra and the Board are drafting a paper for consultation on the options for registered physiotherapists to be involved in the prescribing of medications.

Stakeholder engagement

The Board continued to pursue its engagement with key stakeholders, physiotherapy practitioners and the community. It held Board meetings in Tasmania and Rockhampton, where we met with local health services and practitioners to understand the local health context.

The focus of these visits was to understand the unique challenges of healthcare within rural and remote areas, to hear about innovative approaches to care in the local communities and to discuss any emerging issues.

The stakeholders included local practitioners, representatives from public health services and representatives from regional physiotherapy programs of study.

The Board is committed to keeping abreast of issues relevant to its regulatory mandate such as workforce and protection of the public.

Ms Kim Gibson, Chair

Download the
2023/24 annual report See the complete set of
data tables Download the
report appendices

Previous annual reports and summaries

Expand