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A revised recency of practice standard came into effect on 1 December 2016.The revised standard applies to all registered medical radiation practitioners 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.
The registration standard for recency of practice requires practitioners to ensure that they are competent and fit to practise in the profession through the making of an annual declaration that their practice is current and in keeping with contemporary practice.
Practitioners have a duty to make the care of patients or clients their first concern and to practise safely and effectively. In meeting this duty of care, practitioners have a responsibility to recognise and work within the limits of their competence and scope of practice.
Good practice is patient centred. In the current context, good practice involves:
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, medical radiation practitioners must practise within their scope of practice at any time for a minimum total of 450 hours in the previous three years (approx. three months full-time).
If a medical radiation practitioner cannot meet the minimum hours of practice in the revised standard, this will not necessarily prevent them from returning to practice. The guideline provides information on the elements the Board considers when a practitioner is applying to return to practice as a medical radiation practitioner.
The Board has also published guidelines and FAQ to support the standard and to help practitioners understand its requirements. Additional FAQ were published on 21 October 2016.
The Board encourages all medical radiation practitioners to review the new registration standard to check whether they will be affected by the changes.
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 registration 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.
The following additional resources about the revised standard are available on the Ahpra website.