2021/22 annual summary

Snapshot

6,147 chiropractors

Up 3.0% from 2020/21
0.7% of all registered health practitioners

0.8% identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander

41.7% female; 58.3% male

Age

Age: <25 2.6%, 25-34 30.8%, 35-44 26.8%, 45-54 22.0%, 55-64 12.0%, 65-74 4.7%, >75 1.1%

Regulating

Notifications

142 notifications lodged with Ahpra about

115 chiropractors

214 notifications about 173 chiropractors made Australia-wide, including HPCA and OHO data

2.8% of the profession

Sources of notifications

Sources of notifications: 56.3% Patient, relative or member of the public, 15.5% Other practitioner 6.3% Health complaints entity, 2.1% Board initiated, 19.7% Other

Most common types of complaint

Most common types of complaint: 19.0% Clinical care, 9.9% Offence against other law, 9.2% Boundary violation, 8.5% Breach of non-offence provision - National Law, 7.0% Documentation, 3.5% Communication, 2.1% Behaviour, 1.4% Health impairment, 39.4% Other

12 immediate actions taken

13 mandatory notification received

4 about professional standards

Notifications closed

Notifications closed: 128 notifications closed, 18.8% conditions imposed on registration, 8.6% cautioned or reprimanded, 6.3% referred to another body or retained by a health complaints entity, 1.6% registration cancelled or suspended, 64.8% no further action

Monitoring

47 practitioners monitored for health, performance and/or conduct during the year

39 cases being monitored at 30 June:

10 for conduct
2 for health
13 for performance
10 for prohibited practitioner/student
4 for suitability/eligibility for registration

Criminal offence complaints

20 criminal offence complaints made

9 about title protection
6 about practice protection
5 about advertising breaches

16 closed

Referred to an adjudication body

3 matters decided by a tribunal

No matters decided by a panel

Appeals

1 appeal lodged

From the Chair

The Chiropractic Board of Australia built on planned initiatives to ensure the public continues to receive safe, competent and ethical care from chiropractors, and supported chiropractors to provide safe care, particularly in the challenging pandemic environment. For much of the year the Board continued to carry out its work remotely; however, it was pleased to be able to return to meeting with stakeholders and practitioners in person when possible.

The Board released a revised Code of conduct
in partnership with several other Boards.

Regulatory response to COVID-19

The Board received regular updates from its stakeholders and regulatory partners, including professional associations, the Chiropractic Council of New South Wales and the Council on Chiropractic Education Australasia, about the impact of the pandemic on the profession, approved programs and students.

The Board continued its work with Ahpra to provide relevant information and updates. This included a joint statement from Ahpra and all National Boards, the Health Care Complaints Commission, the Office of the Health Ombudsman and the Therapeutic Goods Administration about reliable, evidence-based sources of information in relation to COVID-19 and vaccines; and a joint statement from Ahpra and all National Boards about facilitating access to care in the COVID-19 environment.

Standards, codes, guidelines and policies

Jointly with the National Boards and Ahpra, the Board released the revised Regulatory principles, which encourage a culturally safe, response- and risk-based approach to regulation.

The Board released the cross-profession
Supervised practice framework.

Stakeholder engagement

We were able to return to face-to-face information forums in June for chiropractors in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, with a joint forum with the Chiropractic Council of New South Wales that focused on the revised Code of conduct and gave chiropractors an opportunity to engage with the Board and the Council.

We continued our program of presentations to final-year students throughout the year to welcome them to the profession and help them understand the expectations and requirements. Students of chiropractic programs receive the Board’s newsletter, which is issued to practitioners three times per year.

Evaluative judgement forum

In November, the Board held a successful virtual forum for all chiropractors and key stakeholders to explore the concept of evaluative judgement in learning in professional practice and particularly its applications to the health professions. Videos and resource materials were published on the Board’s website.

Other news

The Board welcomed four new members, Ms Kim Barker, Mrs Colleen Papadopoulos and Mr Ken Riddiford (community members) and Dr Michael Shobbrook AM (practitioner member from the Australian Capital Territory). We thank outgoing members Dr Michael Badham (practitioner member from the Australian Capital Territory), Ms Anne Burgess AM and Mr Frank Ederle (community members) for their valuable contribution and commitment to the regulation of the chiropractic profession during their time on the Board.

Dr Wayne Minter AM