How to Verify AHPRA Registration
Every medical practitioner in Australia must be registered with AHPRA. Here is how to check a surgeon's registration and what to look for.
Why it matters
AHPRA maintains the national register of every health practitioner legally permitted to practise in Australia. The register shows whether registration is current, whether specialist qualifications are held and in which specialty, and whether any conditions or restrictions apply. It is free, public, and takes about two minutes.
Step by step
Visit ahpra.gov.au and open the register search. Enter the practitioner's name. Confirm the registration status reads active rather than suspended or lapsed. Read the registration type to see whether it is general registration or specialist registration, and in which specialty. Review any conditions or undertakings recorded. Note the expiry date, and check again close to your procedure date.
Types of registration
General registration permits medical practice. Specialist registration additionally confirms completion of an approved specialist training programme in a named specialty: plastic surgery being the relevant one for most cosmetic surgery.
Since September 2023 the title "surgeon" has been protected in Australia, and that includes "cosmetic surgeon". Only practitioners holding specialist registration in surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology, or ophthalmology may use it. The protection covers the title rather than the procedure: a doctor with general registration can still legally perform cosmetic surgery, but must not describe themselves as a surgeon.
Understanding conditions
A condition reading that the practitioner must not perform cosmetic surgery is disqualifying. Supervision requirements mean you should check the supervisor's registration too. Many conditions are administrative rather than disciplinary, but you cannot tell which without reading them.