AHPRA’s longstanding ban on doctors advertising their skills through patient testimonials is being lifted, in part because the ban is deemed unenforceable with the rise of social media.

Under the current restrictions, doctors are obligated to delete any positive comments about their care posted by patients on their practice’s social media accounts.

Comments accusing doctors of bad care can remain untouched.

However, health ministers say the explosion in social media and websites dedicated to patient reviews had made the restrictions impossible to enforce.