End for renewals looming
January 27, 2011
HEALTH professionals across
Australia are being warned that
they will be unable to practice after
next Monday unless they urgently
renew their registration.
A communiqué from the
Australian Health Practitioner
Regulation Agency issued this
week reminds pharmacists and
other practitioners that if they were
due to renew by 31 Dec 2010 or
01 Jan 2011 they only have until
the expiration of a one-month
grace period on 31 Jan to lodge an
application for renewal.
“Under the Health Practitioner
Regulation National Law
Act…once the ‘late period’ ends,
registration lapses and AHPRA
must remove practitioners from the
National Register.
“AHPRA has no discretion about
this,” the agency warned.
“Lapsed registrants may not practice
in Australia without making a new
application for registration.”
However under guidelines issued
earlier this month (PD 19 Jan)
practitioners whose registration
application has been received by
AHPRA can continue to practice
while their application is being
processed, even if it is one month
after their registration expiry date.
“While it is up to practitioners to
make sure they are registered,
AHPRA is doing everything it can
to support the registration renewal
process,” said AHPRA ceo Martin
Fletcher.
He said that pharmacists can
check that their application has
been received online at
www.ahpra.gov.au.
A fast track application process
has been established to assist with
the transition to the National
Scheme, with applicants under this
system not required to provide
proof of identity, verification of
qualifications, English language
skills, registration history or work
history – but new applications after
registration lapses will require all
of these details making the process
significantly more complicated.
The registration renewal date for
pharmacists will eventually be
aligned nationally to 30 Nov
following a transition period.
The above article was sent to subscribers in Pharmacy Daily's issue from 27 Jan 11To see the full newsletter, see the embedded issue below or CLICK HERE to download Pharmacy Daily from 27 Jan 11
