CPD and Maintenance of Practise FAQs

Practising Members (members with Practising Membership (Provisional), Practising Member (General) or a Practising Membership (Certified) membership) must complete a mandatory minimum number of hours of CPD and of AHA practise each year, as described in AHANA's Continuing Competence Requirements By-Law (see AHANA's Policy Library). 

Completing CPD and maintaining AHA skills through practise are important ways for AHANA to ensure that AHAs practise in a consistent way and that the services provided by AHAs continue to evolve with best practise and evidence. 

When a Practising member renews they will be required to certify that they have met these requirements in the previous membership year.

AHANA may require members to produce records to substantiate compliance with these obligations. Non-compliance or inability to substantiate compliance may be a breach of the AHANA Code of Conduct and subject to disciplinary action by AHANA.

Continuing Professional Development (or CPD) is "the way in which registrants continue to learn and develop throughout their careers so they keep their skills and knowledge up-to-date and are able to practise safely and effectively" (United Kingdom Health and Care Professions Council). 

The requirement to maintain currency, by meeting profession-specific minimum CPD requirements, is a cornerstone of both regulated and self-regulated health professions in Australia:

• All registered health practitioners of health professions regulated by the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Authority (AHPRA) are required, in order to maintain registration, to complete the minimum CPD requirements set by their profession (section 128 of the Health Practitioner National Law, as enacted in every state and territory in 2009).
• In order for a self-regulating profession to meet the National Alliance for Self-regulating Health Professions mandatory standards (for entry into the Alliance), the profession must have a CPD program which is a mandatory component of the practitioner registration standards.

Practising Members must complete at least 20 hours of CPD each membership year and document information about that CPD, in preparation for a potential AHANA audit. 

The CPD undertaken should:

• be focussed on improving patient outcomes and experiences;
• draw on the best available evidence, including well-established and accepted knowledge that is supported by research where possible, to inform good practice and decision-making;
• contribute directly to improving competence (performance and behaviour) and keeping up to date in the AHA’s scope and setting of practice;
• build on existing knowledge;
• include a minimum of five hours’ CPD in an interactive setting with other AHAs and/or Allied Health Professionals;
• include a minimum of four hours’ CPD focussed on responding to and supporting diversity through practise, with no less than two hours’ CPD focussed on Indigenous cultural responsiveness; and
• include at least four of the CPD hours related to professional issues.

Maintaining currency of skills in cardiopulmonary resuscitation or first aid do not count towards the 20 hour minimum CPD requirement.

Practising Members must complete at least 150 hours of practise each membership year (averaging to 450 hours of practise over three membership years). These hours must be documented in a way which is suitable for audit and verification by AHANA.

AHANA requires all members who are practising as AHAs to hold a Practising Membership. If you are returning from a long break and have let your membership lapse or have maintained (e.g.) a Non-Practising Membership while you are not practising, you will need to apply for a Practising Membership.

When returning from a break from practise of three or more years, you must have a supervision plan in place that the Board agrees is sufficient to ensure your successful return to safe and competent practise.

Each Practising Member must keep records (in hard copy, electronically or by a combination of both) of their participation in CPD and their practise hours to demonstrate they are maintaining their AHA practise in compliance with these requirements.

The CPD record must include:

• the member’s learning goals for the membership year,
• each CPD activity the member undertakes during the membership year, and
• the member’s personal reflections on the impact that the CPD activity has had on their practice.

Records of their CPD activity and recency of practice must be kept for a minimum of five years.

Prior to 15 May 2024, AHANA offered a fixed membership period from 1 July to 30 June each year. Members who joined after July each year were appointed on a pro-rata basis. A member renewing a Practising Membership granted part-way through a membership year must demonstrate pro rata compliance and ensure they continue to meet the other eligibility criteria for the membership class they want to renew.

The pro rata calculation is based on the number of quarters (periods of three months) remaining in the membership year after the member joined. For example, someone who joined in March of 2024 would need to be able to demonstrate that they completed:

• 1/4 of the CPD hours required, i.e. 5 hours for the quarter, including no less than:
  • 1.25 hours in an interactive setting, 
  • 1 hour on professional issues,
  • 1 hour on responding to and supporting diversity through practise and, either as a part of that hour or as separate CPD, half an hour focussed on Indigenous cultural responsiveness.
• 1/4 of the minimum hours required to maintain recency of practise, i.e. 37.5 hours for the quarter.