I am a health practitioner charged with a drink driving offence. Do I have to notify AHPRA or my national board?

Unfortunately, there is no fixed answer to this question. The reason is because the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (“National Law”) makes it mandatory for a disclosure to be made if you have been charged with an offence punishable by 12 months or more of imprisonment; or convicted of any offence punishable by any term of imprisonment (even if no imprisonment was actually imposed).

The maximum penalty for drink driving offences varies based on a number of factors. These include your blood alcohol concentration, previous drink driving or related convictions, the length of time since previous convictions, the type of license you are holding, and possibly others depending on your traffic history.

Accordingly, if you are a health practitioner charged with a drink driving offence, you should contact our lawyers who will be able to assist you with both your drink driving offence in the courts, as well as advising you on any disclosure requirements and assisting in making submissions to the relevant board.

You can read our full article on the consequences of criminal charges and convictions on health practitioners here.

For legal advice, please contact our Gold Coast Criminal Lawyers on (07) 5532 3133 or our Brisbane Criminal Lawyers on (07) 3221 4999.

Please note: This advice is for general background information only and is not intended as legal advice you can rely on. To obtain legal advice you can rely on you must contact a lawyer who can advise you on the basis of your personal circumstances.