Certification of Healthcare Services

Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001

• Purpose of this Act
• Section 9 of this Act
• How to get copies of this Act
• Information on the Standards and how to get copies
• Questions and Answers on the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001

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The purpose of this Act is to:

1. promote the safe provision of health and disability services to the public
2. enable the establishment of consistent and reasonable standards for providing health and disability services to the public safely
3. encourage providers of health and disability services to take responsibility for providing those services to the public safely
4. encourage providers of health and disability services to continuously improve the quality of those services.

The Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001 repealed the following Acts and Legislation:

• The Hospitals Act 1957;
• The Hospitals Regulations 1993;
• The Old People's Homes Regulations 1987;
• The Obstetric Regulations 1986;
• Sections of the Disabled Persons Community Welfare Act 1975

Section 9 of this Act - Providers of health care services to meet service standards:

a person providing health care services of any kind must do so:

1. while certified by the Director-General to provide health care services of that kind
2. while meeting all relevant service standards
3. in compliance with any conditions subject to which the person was certified by the Director-General to provide health care services of that kind
4. in compliance with this Act
5. if the services are rest home care or geriatric services that are hospital care, in compliance with any applicable regulations under section 53(1)(a).

How to get copies of this Act

The Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001 may be ordered from any Bennetts Government Bookshop or Whitcoulls LTD or you can view the Act and it's amendments online:

• Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001
• Health and Disability Services (Safety) Amendment Act 2003
• Health and Disability Services (Safety) Amendment Act 2005

Information on the Standards and how to get copies

Service providers seeking certification under the Health and Disability Services (Safety) Act 2001 will need to demonstrate that their service complies with all relevant approved standards.

All hospitals, rest homes and those providers of residential care that have 5 or more residents need to meet the relevant Standards. The revised Health and Disability Services Standards 2008 come into force on 1 June 2009 . They replace the Health and Disability Standards 2001 and can be viewed and downloaded in the Introduction of the Health and Disability Services Standards section - View the Health and Disability Services Standards 2008.

Copies of the Standards may be purchased from Standards New Zealand, free phone 0800 782 632.

You can also write to:

Standards New Zealand
Private Bag 2439
Wellington 6140

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Page last updated: 5 March 2009