Revised standard for recency of practice takes effect from today

01 Dec 2016

The revised registration standard for recency of practice takes effect today.

The Physiotherapy Board of Australia has previously published the revised standard and supporting materials to help physiotherapists to understand the new requirements.

This standard applies to all registered physiotherapists except those with non-practising registration. Practitioners will need to meet the obligations of the revised standard by the time they renew their registration in 2017.

What’s changed?

The key change to the Board’s recency of practice requirements is that a requirement for minimum hours of practice has been introduced.

To meet the standard, physiotherapists must practise within their scope of practice at any time for a minimum total of:

• 450 hours in the previous three years (approx. 3 months full time), or 
• 150 hours in the previous 12 months (approx. 1 month full time).

Most practitioners who are currently practising will meet the revised standard.

This change may affect those physiotherapists who are currently practising infrequently, or who have had a recent absence from practice or who are currently taking a break from practice and wish to return to practice. The revised standard was published well in advance of its commencement to provide practitioners adequate time to prepare for the changes to the recency requirements.

The Board encourages all practitioners to review the new registration standard to check whether they will be affected by these changes.

If a physiotherapist cannot meet the minimum hours of practice in the revised standard, this will not necessarily prevent them from returning to practice as a physiotherapist. The standard sets out the options for physiotherapists who don’t meet the standard including those with non-practising registration and physiotherapists who are not registered and wish to return to practice after 1 December 2016.

The Board has also published guidelines and FAQs to support the standard and to help practitioners understand its requirements.

More information

The revised standard was approved by the Australian Health Workforce Ministerial Council on 27 August 2015 and was reviewed as part of a scheduled review of standards. A public consultation was held as part of the review, and the submissions to public consultation are published on the Board’s website. A brief consultation report which outlines the public consultation and rationale for any changes has also previously been published by National Boards.

Please refer to AHPRA’s registration standards page for additional information and resources.