Martin Fletcher will step down as CEO of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) when his term ends in December 2024.

Having overseen the creation of a national health practitioner regulator 15 years ago, Mr Fletcher said he was proud to have achieved a national scheme that is respected around the world.

“It’s not just about administering a law. It’s about making sure all the moving parts in the national scheme are guided every day by our core role of protecting the public, while ensuring fairness and respect for practitioners,” he said.

Minister Rachel Stephen-Smith, Chair of the Health Ministers’ Meeting which is made up of all Australian state, territory and federal health ministers, thanked Mr Fletcher for his “enormous contribution”, and acknowledged him for leading Ahpra “as a values-driven regulator” and playing “a key role in ensuring Australia has a skilled and diverse health workforce”.

Professor Euan Wallace AM, Chair of the Health Chief Executives Forum, which brings together the heads of health departments at all levels of government, said Mr Fletcher has always put patient safety at the heart of the work of the national scheme.

“The needs of patients and communities are constantly evolving. From its establishment, Martin has led the transformation of our national regulatory system to meet those needs.”

FOCUS ON CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENTS

Mr Fletcher was appointed to establish and lead Ahpra after Australian governments committed to creating a National Registration and Accreditation Scheme in 2008. Commencing in 2010 with a six-month deadline, he guided legislation through parliaments to create Ahpra, built a new organisation, appointed staff, and set up offices across Australia with teams able to support National Boards as they started the vital job of regulating the nation’s registered health workforce. Ahpra now works with 15 National Boards to oversee the registration and regulation of more than 900,000 practitioners across 16 professions.

Through a process of ‘continuous improvements’, Mr Fletcher said the national scheme had evolved to better respond to extremely sensitive aspects and impacts of regulation and public protection.

“Looking back on 15 years, I would say that regulation has rightly become more outward looking, more transparent along with a stronger consumer voice. While we still strive to manage every concern about individual practitioners fairly and proportionately, we also look up to address some of the wider trends that drive practitioner behaviour.

“We’re a better regulator because we work with others. We collaborate with other agencies who also have a role in making the health system safer for patients,” Mr Fletcher said. “There is a much stronger focus on the diverse communities that we serve, who are at the heart of everything we do.

“We want the respect of the professions that we regulate, and the trust of the communities we serve. Our goal is to play our part in making sure that community trust in health practitioners is justified and ongoing.”

Mr Fletcher said acknowledging the systemic racism that exists within healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been one of the national scheme’s most important actions to date. Leading change to ensure cultural safety across health care remains one of the most crucial challenges in the future. With a Notifier Support Service to better recognise the needs of victim survivors, a Health Strategy Unit to lead work to eliminate racism from healthcare, and world-leading work to better respond to practitioner distress during notifications process, he said Ahpra was well placed to ensure that regulation meets the needs of the communities it serves.

Establishing research programs that harness the value of national data, ensuring that accreditation delivers the health workforce Australia needs, now and into the future, and creating a rapid response unit to respond to emerging issues are foundations that will shape Ahpra’s next phase.

Ahpra Chair Ms Gill Callister PSM thanked Mr Fletcher for his “significant contribution, vision and leadership over many years and through many challenges”.

The Ahpra Board will now start a global search for a new CEO.