Revised CPD standard for all physiotherapists published today

30 Oct 2015

The Physiotherapy Board of Australia, which regulates Australia’s 27,500 registered physiotherapists, today published the revised continuing professional development (CPD) standard , which will come in to effect on 1 December 2015. 

To help physiotherapists prepare for commencement, the revised standards are being published in advance.

Revised registration standards

Revised guidelines

The document has been updated. There are no changes to the existing requirements for physiotherapists when the new standard comes into effect on 1 December. All practising physiotherapists must complete at least 20 hours of self-chosen CPD per year and must keep a log and reflect on how their CPD enhances their practice. The CPD must relate to the physiotherapist’s scope of practice.

The revised CPD standard will replace the current standard and will apply to all practising physiotherapists in Australia. Practitioners will need to meet the obligations of the revised standard by the next registration renewal period on 30 November 2016.

The revised standard was approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council on 27 August 2015 and was part of a scheduled review of standards. A public consultation was held as part of the review. National Boards today published consultation reports providing a summary of the consultation processes, rationale for any changes and proposed way forward, including areas where further work is planned. The submissions to the public consultation are published on the past consultations page.

The Board will be publishing a revised professional indemnity insurance (PII) arrangements standard soon, which will be in effect from early 2016.

In February 2016, the Board will be publishing a revised recency of practice standard. The revised standard will take effect on 1 December 2016 to allow physiotherapists to become familiar with the requirements.

Additional resources

The following additional resources about the revised standards are available on the AHPRA website.

• letters of approval
• consultation reports:
  • Continuing professional development registration standard
  • Recency of practice registration standard
  • Professional indemnity insurance arrangements registration standard
• common FAQs and timetable for commencement