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Paramedics joined Australia’s National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (National Scheme) on 1 December 2018.
The role of the Paramedicine Board of Australia (the Board) under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law, as in force in each state and territory, is to ensure that registered paramedics have the knowledge, skills and experience to provide safe and competent care to the public.
The National Law requires all registered health practitioners to renew their registration annually. Paramedics need to renew their registration with the Board by 30 November each year – this is the annual renewal date for paramedics with either general or non-practising registration.
More than 24,000 paramedics along with over 250,000 other registered allied health practitioners will be invited to renew their registration before 30 November, each year. Ahpra will start sending out information on renewal in October. Look out for Ahpra’s email reminders to renew to confirm that online renewal is open. Reminders will be emailed several times during the renewal period, so please make sure your contact details provided to Ahpra are up to date in your online services account.
Renewing your registration online is quick and easy. Visit the Paramedicine Board website and have your Ahpra user ID, date of birth and password ready to access your online services account.
Your user ID (either a 10 digit number or email address) will be included in the registration renewal reminders sent to you by AHPRA. Alternatively, you can complete an online enquiry form and select ‘Online Access’ as the category type.
If you have forgotten your password, you can:
Check your details on the national register are correct and use the secure online services for practitioners to make sure Ahpra has your current contact information, including the right email address and mobile phone number. Please ensure that Ahpra has your most up to date contact details so you receive renewal reminders.
All registered paramedics must declare that they meet the Board’s registration standards including criminal history, professional indemnity insurance, recency of practice and continuing professional development when they renew their registration. You should make sure you understand the requirements of these standards before you attempt to renew your registration.
In a similar way to when you first applied for registration, you will also be required to make declarations about things such as changes in criminal history and impairment. See the Registration standards and your renewal section for more information.
It is a requirement of the National Law that the suburb and postcode of a registrant’s principal place of practice is published on the public register of practitioners. If this is a serious risk to your health and safety you can apply to the Board to have your principal place of practice or any other information excluded from the public register. All applications are considered on a case-by-case basis.
There is an annual renewal fee for 12 months of registration. See the fees schedule listed on the Board’s website for the costs of annual renewal and registration.
You can check the status of your renewal application using the application tracker in your online services account. If your application has been received, you can continue to practise while your renewal application is processed, even if this extends past your registration expiry date.
When you submit your application, you will receive a tax invoice via email. Once your application to renew registration has been finalised, Ahpra will send you an email confirming that your registration has been renewed. Ahpra will contact you if there are questions about your application, so please make sure your contact details are up to date. You can print out a copy of your registration certificate from your online services should this be needed.
Under the National Law, health practitioners have a one-month late period after the registration expiry date (30 November) to renew. If an application is received by Ahpra before the end of December, you will remain registered and able to practise. Your registration expiry date on the register of practitioners will be updated only when processing of your application is complete.
An application for renewal in the late period will incur a late fee. The late fee will apply to paramedics who do not renew by the registration expiry date (30 November). This recognises the additional costs of managing late renewals and will be payable in addition to the annual renewal fee.
If your intention is to not renew your registration, you can select the online option ‘opt not to renew’. This will stop email reminders to renew your registration from being sent. You will continue to receive reminders until your registration is renewed or you have advised Ahpra that you are opting not to renew your registration. If you opt not to renew your registration by the expiry date, your name will be removed from the national register on 1 December, and you will no longer be able to practise as a paramedic. If you opt not to renew your registration during the late period, your name will be removed from the national register immediately and you will no longer be able to practise as a paramedic.
If you do not renew your registration by the expiry date or in the following one-month late period, your registration will lapse on 1 January. Once your registration has lapsed, your name will be removed from the national register in accordance with the National Law and you will not be able to use the title paramedic or otherwise hold yourself out as a paramedic in Australia. You will also be required to lodge a completely new application for registration if you seek to resume practice in the future.
For paramedics who have lapsed from the register, a fast-track application process is available for one month after the late registration period expires, between 1 January – 31 January. A fast-track application fee is payable in addition to the annual renewal fee. You should contact Ahpra as soon as possible to apply for a ‘fast-track’ application for registration if you wish to resume practice. You are unable to resume practice until your application is decided.
As a registered paramedic, you must declare that you meet the Board’s registration standards including criminal history, professional indemnity insurance, recency of practice and continuing professional development when you renew your registration. National Boards routinely audit a randomly selected number of practitioners each year and you will need to be able to substantiate your declaration if audited.
Making a declaration that is false or misleading can be grounds for the Board to refuse to renew your registration, impose conditions on your registration or take disciplinary action.
When you renew your registration, you will be asked if there have been any changes to your criminal history. This means you need to declare any criminal charges or convictions you have not already declared. The Board will consider any declaration against the criteria set out in the criminal history registration standard. When requested, you will need to provide additional information about any new criminal history matters.
If you are audited, a criminal history check will be carried out to verify your declaration.
When you renew your registration, you will be asked to answer two questions in relation to professional indemnity insurance arrangements. First, you will be asked to declare whether you have practised in the preceding period of registration without the required professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place as described in the professional indemnity insurance registration standard. Next you will be asked to declare that if your registration is renewed you will not practise without having the required professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place.
If you are audited, you will need to be able to prove you had appropriate professional indemnity insurance arrangements in place for all the time you practised as a paramedic in the preceding period, e.g. provide a certificate of currency.
You will be asked to declare if you meet the Board’s recency requirements. This means declaring that you have the required minimum practice hours within your current scope of practice. This can be 150 hours of practice in the previous 12 months or 450 hours of practice in the previous 3 years or 750 hours of practice in the previous 5 years with no continuous absence of greater than 2 years.
If you are audited you will be required to provide evidence of your practice to meet the requirements, e.g. pay slips, letter(s) from employer(s).
You will be asked to declare that you have completed a minimum of 30 hours of continuing professional development (CPD) activities in the previous registration period. In addition, it is also important to note that:
Most of this information can be recorded in the CPD log book template published by the Board. If you are audited you will need to provide either a fully completed log book and evidence of the completed activities e.g. receipts of attendance, notes etc or an equivalent portfolio of information to prove that you have met the requirements of the standard.
If you have been granted an exemption or variation from meeting the requirements of the CPD standard, you still should declare that you do not meet the requirements of the standard and provide a copy of the correspondence authoring the exemption or variation when requested.
After reviewing this guide, you may have further questions about your registration. Please visit our website or contact us for more information.