The Medical Board of Australia will instead opt for ‘profession-led support’ to ensure doctors aged over 70 continue to practice safely.
Doctors older than 70 will not be required to undergo mandatory health checks in order to continue practising, the Medical Board of Australia has announced.
The decision comes after strong pushback on the proposed health checks from within the medical community; the AMA even went so far as to encourage the board to seek legal advice on whether its proposal counted as age-related discrimination.
Under the board’s original preferred plan, doctors would have had to undergo GP-run health assessments every three years after they turned 70, and then annually after they turned 80.
While AHPRA claimed that it would not dictate the exact contents of the general health checks, its consultation documents included a draft questionnaire with specific questions on genito-urinary health, cognitive function and manual dexterity.
The impetus for the health check introduction was an analysis of AHPRA notifications which found that the rate of notifications about late-career doctors increased from around 36 notifications per 1000 doctors in 2015 to 70 per 1000 in 2023.
For doctors aged 80 and over, notifications had increased by more than 180% over that time period.
A second analysis of complaint outcomes has now shown that the issues that require regulatory action for doctors aged over 70 “are broader than health and most commonly include concerns about communication, clinical care, pharmacy/medication, as well as health”.
In fact, action in relation to potential practitioner health impairments is undertaken only 8% more often for doctors aged over 70 than for younger doctors, making it unlikely that health checks would have any meaningful impact on practitioner safety.
“The Board values the contribution of late career doctors to their patients, the medical profession and our community,” Medical Board of Australia chair Dr Susan O’Dwyer said.
“There are also some clear issues in the practice of some doctors in this group that health checks alone won’t address.”
The board also conceded that there was “no existing research demonstrating that health checks would definitively reduce notifications”.
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Instead of introducing health checks, the regulator said it will form an advisory group with representation from older doctors, medical colleges, doctors’ health organisations, CPD homes, medical defence organisations and the AMA.
This outcome is in keeping with the World Medical Association’s October 2025 position statement on late-career physicians, which called for evidence-based competency evaluations of individual doctors and “appropriate and balanced evaluation” of their working ability.
AMA president Dr Danielle McMullen told The Medical Republic that the association was in full support of keeping doctors actively engaged in the profession into their older years.
“We’re pleased that the medical board has responded to feedback and now plans a profession led approach to supporting older doctors and their patients,” she said.
“Of course, we always encourage all doctors to have a usual GP and get regular checkups, and also to participate in CPD and professional networks like the AMA to stay connected to the profession.
“We look forward to working with the medical board on what this profession-led approach will look like to make sure that we can better support our late career doctors.”
The RACGP called the decision to ditch health checks “commonsense”.
“Ageist rules such as mandatory age checks or retirement ages aren’t the answer,” RACGP president Dr Michael Wright said.
“We all need to work to the age and with the capacity that we can, should and want to.
“Mandatory health checks don’t reduce patient harms or notifications. Instead, they risk increasing administrative burdens for GPs and worsening workforce shortages.”
As of 2025, there are around 7000 practising doctors aged over 70, making up less than 5% of the workforce.
General practice specifically has an ageing workforce, with roughly 8.8% of GPs aged over 70.
