Osteopathy regulation at work: Protecting the public in 2015/16

07 Mar 2017

A profession-specific annual report summary that looks into the work of the Osteopathy Board of Australia over the year to 30 June 2016 has now been published.

The report draws on data from the 2015/16 annual report by AHPRA and the National Boards. This information provides a snapshot of the profession as at 30 June 2016, and includes the number of applications for registration as an osteopath, outcomes of criminal history checks and segmentation of the registrant base by gender, age and principal place of practice.

Notifications information includes the number of complaints or concerns received about osteopaths, matters opened and closed during the year, types of complaint, monitoring and compliance and matters involving immediate action.

Insights into the profession include:

• Of the 657,621 registered health practitioners in Australia during the year, 2,094 were osteopaths (0.3% of the total registrant base). 
• 207 new applications for registration as an osteopath were received. 
• Registration for the osteopathy profession grew by 4.7% from 2014/15. 
• Student registration increased by 47.9%, to 1,759 registrants. 
• 54% of osteopaths are women; 46% are men. 
• Victoria was the principal place of practice for most osteopaths (1,109). 
• The Northern Territory (NT) was home to the fewest (3). 
• The age bracket with the most osteopaths was 25-29 (420 registrants). 
• 65 osteopaths were under 25 years of age; six were aged 80 or over. 
• As part of the registration process, 185 criminal history checks were carried out for osteopaths. Of 15 disclosable court outcomes, none required regulatory action. 
• 23 notifications (complaints or concerns) were lodged about osteopaths during the year, equating to 1.1% of the profession. 
• Immediate action to suspend or limit an osteopath’s registration did not need to be taken on any occasion in 2015/16. 
• There were 10 active monitoring cases, with most relating to monitoring provisional registration requirements for suitability/eligibility. 
• 12 new complaints were made about possible statutory offences relating to osteopathy services. Almost all matters related to the use of protected titles or advertising concerns.

To download this report, or to view the main 2015/16 annual report and summary reports by state or territory, visit our microsite.

For more information

• Visit the AHPRA website 
• Lodge an online enquiry form 
• For registration enquiries: 1300 419 495 (within Australia) +61 3 9275 9009 (overseas callers) 
• For media enquiries: (03) 8708 9200