Podiatry Board of Australia - February 2025
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February 2025

Issue 37 – February 2025

From the Chair

Image of Kristy RobsonHappy new year and welcome to your first newsletter for 2025.

First, I would like to thank my predecessor Cylie Williams for her exemplary leadership and invaluable contributions to supporting safe podiatry practice. I hope to continue this legacy during my time as Chair of the Podiatry Board of Australia.

We also welcome six new Board members, and farewell four Board members who finished their terms. You can learn more about the recent Board changes in this issue.

I encourage you to have your say on the proposed options for providing guidance for podiatrists working with assistants in their practice - the public consultation closes on 14 February 2025.

Dr Kristy Robson 
Chair, Podiatry Board of Australia

Priority news

Have your say on proposed options for providing guidance to podiatrists working with assistants in their practice

The Board is seeking feedback on proposed options for providing guidance to podiatrists working with assistants in their practice.

The Board published Guidelines for podiatrists working with podiatric assistants in podiatry practice (the guidelines) in 2010, which set out the obligations of podiatrists when working with assistants and provide information about what they must do in this specific area of practice. Since the guidelines’ publication, National Boards have taken a less prescriptive approach to providing guidance to their professions and the Board is consulting on two proposed options which are to:

  • retain the guidelines with revisions, making them more contemporary, or
  • retire the guidelines and replace them with a high-level guidance document and supporting materials that explain how the Code of conduct and professional capabilities apply when working with an assistant.

The Board prefers to retire the guidelines and replace them with the proposed Guidance for working with assistants in podiatry practice and supporting materials such as case studies.

By retiring the guidelines and relying on the robust framework of the Code of conduct and professional capabilities, we hope to provide more flexibility to reflect evolving practice settings, reduce barriers, and enable podiatrists and assistants to work to their full scope while maintaining safety for the public.

We are seeking your feedback on the best option, as well as the proposed Guidance for working with assistants in podiatry practice.

More information about the consultation, including a consultation paper, a snapshot of the consultation and information about how to provide feedback is on the Board's Current consultations page. Be sure to provide your response before consultation closes on 14 February 2025. 

Health practitioner regulators united: family violence is unacceptable

Australia’s health practitioner regulators are united in their view that family violence is unacceptable.

For the first time ever, these regulators issued a joint statement reminding practitioners of the critical contribution they can make in Australia’s response to tackling family violence.

The statement recognises the role of regulators in the collective effort to end family violence by supporting victim-survivors, setting clear expectations of health practitioners, taking regulatory action as appropriate and condemning all forms of family violence.

Health practitioners are often the first point of contact for victim-survivors, so play an essential role in the early detection, support, referral, and delivery of specialised treatment to those experiencing family violence.

Health practitioners are also reminded that their own conduct, as well as that of their colleagues, must reflect the trust and confidence the public have in them for safe and effective healthcare.

Regulators work to ensure health practitioners are safe, ethical, and professional for the protection of the public.

Family violence can also be a serious crime and a violation of human rights. It is a gross departure from the ethical standards of behaviour expected of health practitioners. Health practitioners who are perpetrators of family violence could face suspension, cancellation, the imposition of conditions, or refusal of registration.

As regulators we are committed to minimising the risk of adding to victim-survivors’ trauma or exposing them to further risk of harm. We seek to respond to victim-survivors’ complaints about health practitioners in a trauma-informed way. This means prioritising the safety and dignity of victim-survivors and respectfully and sensitively supporting them through the health complaint management process.

We encourage any person aware of a health practitioner perpetrating family violence to provide information to the police and appropriate regulatory body. A list of health practitioner regulator contact details, as well as police, family violence information and support services, is included in the joint position statement.

Read the media release.

Board news

Meet your new Board members

In December 2024, Australian health ministers announced the appointment of members to the Podiatry Board of Australia. The appointments are for a term of three years.

Dr Kristy Robson, practitioner member from New South Wales, has been appointed as Chair of the Board. Dr Robson has been a member of the Board since 2018.

Mr Anthony Short, practitioner member from Queensland, has been reappointed.

The following new members have been appointed:

  • Dr Helen Banwell, practitioner member from South Australia
  • Miss Jill Walsh, practitioner member from Victoria
  • Dr Deborah Schoen, practitioner member from Western Australia
  • Dr Jennifer Sonter, practitioner member from the Australian Capital Territory
  • Dr Rebecca Jenkinson, community member, and
  • Prof Darryl O’Donnell, community member.

As well as the former Chair, Prof Cylie Williams, we acknowledge and thank outgoing members Julia Kurowski (practitioner member), Kate Storer (practitioner member), Andrew van Essen (practitioner member), and community member Raelene Harrison for their valuable contribution and commitment to the regulation of the podiatry profession during their time on the Board.

The full list of members is on the Board's website.

To help you get to know the Board a little better, we will introduce you to one new and one continuing Board member in each newsletter over the year.

Latest workforce data released

The Board’s latest quarterly registration data report covers the period to 30 September 2024. At this date there were 6,166 registered podiatric practitioners, including 5,956 with general registration, 41 with specialist registration, and 169 with non-practising registration.

There were 41 practitioners who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, or 0.7 per cent of the profession.

There were 267 practitioners with endorsement for scheduled medicines.

For further data breakdowns by age, gender and principal place of practice, visit the Board’s Statistics page to read the report.

What’s new?

Parental leave fee relief on the way

A 30 per cent rebate on annual registration fees for practitioners who take parental leave will come into effect on 1 July 2025, while a wider review of pro rata fees gets underway.

This action is designed to provide financial relief for practitioners taking parental leave (and other forms of protected leave types such as disability and carer’s leave).

It is a first step in a range of measures that Ahpra and the National Boards are examining to make the annual registration fees system more flexible and responsive.

Learn more about the parental fee relief approach.

Annual report shows progress in addressing workforce needs

Addressing workforce needs by getting more health practitioners safely registered faster and responding to new risks from emerging models of care are the highlights of the 2023/24 Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) annual report.

Read the Podiatry Board report and statistics on the Board’s Annual report webpage.

Want more information?

  • Visit www.podiatryboard.gov.au for the mandatory registration standards, codes, guidelines and FAQs. Visiting the website regularly is the best way to stay in touch with news and updates from the Board.
  • Lodge an enquiry form via the website by following the Enquiries link on every web page under Contact us.
  • For registration enquiries, call 1300 419 495 (from within Australia) or +61 3 9125 3010 (for overseas callers).
  • To update your contact details for important registration renewal emails and other Board updates, go to the Ahpra website: Update contact details.
  • Address mail correspondence to Dr Kristy Robson, Chair, Podiatry Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne VIC 3001.
 
 
Page reviewed 7/02/2025
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