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Fifteen years after overseeing the creation of a national health practitioner regulator, CEO Martin Fletcher is set to step down at the end of the year.

鈥淭he time is right for me to take on new challenges, and for a new Ahpra CEO to approach emerging frontiers including AI in health care, global workforce shortages and rapidly evolving ways of delivering health services,鈥� Fletcher said.

With Fletcher鈥檚 term ending in December 2024, Ahpra has begun a global search to recruit a new CEO.

Ahpra Chair Gill Callister PSM said, 鈥淥n behalf of the Australian community, nearly one million registered health practitioners, 15 health professions, governments and our many stakeholders, I thank Mr Fletcher for his remarkable contribution.

鈥淭he new CEO will lead Ahpra into a new era, able to harness the many strengths of the National Scheme while meeting the challenges of the complexity review and harnessing the value of our business transformation, which will reform how we deliver regulatory services.鈥�

Fletcher was appointed to establish and lead Ahpra after Australian governments committed to creating a National Registration and Accreditation Scheme in 2008.

Starting from scratch in 2010 and against a punishing six-month deadline, Fletcher 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鈥檚 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 鈥榗ontinuous improvements鈥�, Fletcher said the National Scheme had evolved to better respond to extremely sensitive aspects and impacts of regulation and public protection.

鈥淟ooking 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,鈥� Fletcher said.

鈥淚鈥檓 proud of what we鈥檝e achieved, that we鈥檝e never rested on our laurels and always looked at how we can keep learning and do the important work of regulation better.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not just about administering a law. It鈥檚 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.鈥�

Fletcher said acknowledging the systemic racism that exists within health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people had been one of the National Scheme鈥檚 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 health care, and world-leading work to better respond to practitioner distress during notifications process, Fletcher said Ahpra was well placed to ensure that regulation meets the needs of the communities we serve.

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

Image credit: iStock.com/HT-Pix