November 2022

 Issue 31 – November 2022

• From the Chair
• Priority news
  • Renew your registration now to avoid late fees
• Board news
  • Foot Health Week 2022: looking to the future
• Students and graduates
  • Graduating soon? Apply now to avoid registration delays
• Regulation at work
  • Victorian podiatrist suspended for failing to hold insurance
• What’s new?
  • What impact is climate change having on our health and health system?
• National Scheme news
• Keep in touch with the Board

From the Chair

We’re fast approaching the end of 2022, a busy year in which the Board has focused, as much as possible, on returning to business as usual following the COVID-19 pandemic.

If you haven’t already done so, it’s time to renew your registration. While renewal is an important time to ensure your details are up to date and your responses are honest and accurate, it’s also an opportunity for reflection.

I encourage you to use this time to think about the past year and identify your professional goals for the future. This how we best make plans for education and training to help meet those goals.

You will likely be aware of the current focus on cyber security. It's timely to consider how you are keeping your patient information safe, and you could consider further education on cyber security and how potential breaches may affect your practice.

The Board thanks podiatrists and podiatric surgeons for your ongoing commitment and contribution to the profession and the public. We wish you all the best for the holiday season.

Cylie Williams
Chair, Podiatry Board of Australia

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Priority news

Renew your registration now to avoid late fees

Podiatrists and podiatric surgeons have until 30 November 2022 to renew their general, specialist or non-practising registration on time. The registration fee remains frozen for 2022/23, at $378.

We encourage you to renew now to avoid delays during the busy renewal period. Renewing on time also means you’ll avoid late fees which apply after 30 November 2022.

Read the renewal FAQs on the Ahpra website for helpful tips and information on what you need to do to renew, and look out for an email from Ahpra providing access to online renewal.

Ready to renew?

Head to our Registration renewal web page to start an online application.

If you submit your application on time, or during the following one-month late period, you can continue practising while your application is assessed.

If you don’t renew by the end of the late period, 31 December 2022, your registration will lapse, you’ll be removed from the national register and you won’t be able to use the protected titles for the profession.

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Board news

Foot Health Week 2022: looking to the future

On 10 October, we celebrated Foot Health Week across the country. The Podiatry Board of Australia thanked podiatrists and podiatric surgeons for another year of hard work to help support Australians to maintain the optimal health of their feet.

Every year, Foot Health Week gives us the chance to celebrate and reflect on the important role our profession plays in helping keep Australians healthy and active. The work we do, including promoting good foot health, makes a tangible difference in many people’s lives and it’s work we can all be very proud of.

Foot Health Week also gives us the chance to look forward to the future of podiatry. The new Professional capabilities recognise cultural safety as a key component of safe healthcare and the revised Code of conduct includes guidance on how you can ensure culturally safe and respectful practice. These are great examples of how our profession continues to keep up to date with best practices to give the best care we can.

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Students and graduates

Graduating soon? Apply now to avoid registration delays

If you’re set to complete your podiatry course this year, you can apply for registration now.

You can apply before you finish your studies so we can start assessing your application while we wait for your graduate results.

Registration with the Board is required before you can start work – and means you can work anywhere in Australia.

You can watch our video to help you get your application right – Applying for graduate registration.

You’ll also find helpful advice, tips for avoiding common causes of delay and downloadable information flyers on the Graduate applications page of the Ahpra website.

Approved CPR training is a requirement for registration

Make sure you have completed training that includes cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), management of anaphylaxis and use of an automated external defibrillator (AED) conducted by an approved training organisation.

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Regulation at work

Victorian podiatrist suspended for failing to hold insurance

A Victorian podiatrist has been reprimanded and suspended for four months for professional misconduct.

The Board referred George Moustakas to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal in June 2021 for failing to hold professional indemnity insurance (PII) for more than two years; falsely declaring in his registration renewals that he held the insurance; misleading the Board during an audit and the investigation; and failing to notify the Board that he did not hold such insurance.

In handing down its decision, the tribunal noted that Mr Moustakas was an experienced practitioner who had been practising for decades, that his conduct was dishonest and repeated and that he had compounded his initial failing to hold PII in ways that were deliberate.

The requirement for practitioners to hold PII is for the protection of the public and is of fundamental importance. At the end of his suspension, a condition will be imposed that Mr Moustakas must provide evidence annually that he holds PII.

Read more in the news item.

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What’s new?

What impact is climate change having on our health and health system?

Join us for the latest episodes of our Taking care podcast.

The inextricable link between climate change and healthcare

A conversation about the impacts of climate change on our health and health systems.

Guests discuss the current impacts at a personal and community level and the structural changes needed to address the inequities exacerbated by climate change, such as housing inequality.

Innovations in rural and remote healthcare

What’s great about our rural and remote healthcare services and the people who work in them? A lot, and the conversation is just getting started.

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National Scheme news

Click on the image below to visit the National Scheme's newsletter page.

Keep in touch with the Board

• 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 9285 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 A/Prof. Cylie Williams, Chair, Podiatry Board of Australia, GPO Box 9958, Melbourne VIC 3001.

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