Ahpra and National Boards release social research results

26 Jun 2023

The Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) and the Optometry Board of Australia have released results from surveys of practitioners’ sentiment and perceptions about our role and work.

The results will inform work to improve our engagement with regulated health professions, with the aim of improving trust and confidence in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme.

The report released today provides the results from an anonymous survey conducted in late 2021 of a random sample of registered health practitioners. There were 14,670 responses from practitioners across all regulated health professions.

As the survey was voluntary, the sample of responses from some professions may not be representative of the whole population of the profession. In addition, the survey responses also reveal the different roles of National Boards, Ahpra and professional associations are not well understood, so caution is needed when considering these results.

The surveys were, in the main, the same as ones carried out in 2018, 2019 and 2020, allowing for the comparison of changes in awareness and sentiment over the period. The overall survey results, when compared with the previous years’ data, are stable.

• Reputational Insights 2021 report – Ahpra and National Boards (471 KB,PDF)

The National Boards have also published profession-specific reports based on the results of the online survey of registered health practitioners.

From 2023, we will be following a different approach to surveying and engaging with practitioners and other external stakeholders to gain insights and feedbacks on our role and work. Our new approach will be informed by what we learned from four years of survey results and address the limitations of previous surveys.

Profession specific results

The Optometry Board of Australia has also published a report based on the results of the survey of optometrists. 

• Reputational Insights 2021 - Optometry Board of Australia (294 KB,PDF)

For more information

• For media enquiries, phone (03) 8708 9200.
• Lodge an online enquiry form.
• For registration enquiries, please phone 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9125 3010 (overseas callers).