2020 pandemic response sub-register to be extended

Ahpra will contact registered health practitioners to ask if they wish to continue before expiry date.

Health practitioners on the 2020 pandemic response sub-register can now opt in to extend their temporary registration before it expires, on 5 April 2022, to keep supporting the pandemic response.

Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) will contact practitioners on the sub-register before the expiration date to ask if participants would like to:

• opt in so their temporary registration is extended to expire on 21 September 2022 (Ahpra will not be charging a fee for this extension), or
• formally apply for registration on the main register using a transition pathway (registration fee only).

The temporary sub-registers were established on an opt-out basis with eligible practitioners added automatically. As of 31 January 2022, there are 23,179 medical practitioners, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health practitioners on the 2020 sub-register including 2,809 medical practitioners.

Anyone who does not want or is unable to join the surge workforce can do nothing and let their temporary registration expire. Their name will be removed from the sub-register on 6 April 2022, and they will no longer be able to practise.

Information about this latest update can be found on the Ahpra website:

• Information about the 2020 pandemic response sub-register
• FAQs for practitioners and employers