Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003

Quality Assurance Activities

• Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the HPCAA
• Requirements Relating to the Form, Content and Quality Standards of an Application
• Application for Declaration of Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the HPCAA
• Reporting Requirements for Protected Quality Assurance Activities (QAA) under the HPCAA
• Replacing a Responsible Person

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Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the HPCAA

Health practitioners whose work is subject to ongoing assessment as part of a quality assurance activity (QAA) can apply to have that activity protected under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.

A QAA is a term used in the Act to describe the way health practitioners review, assess and monitor their work. Quality assurance is an integral part of many businesses, trades and professions. However, it plays a particularly important role in the delivery of health care services, and is a useful tool in helping to avoid adverse health outcomes.

A pamphlet describing protected QAAs, and an application form for a QAA Notice can be found below:

• Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003
  This leaflet for health practitioners explains what a QAA is, what the benefits are of having a QAA protected, and how to do this.

Requirements Relating to the Form, Content and Quality Standards of an Application

Section 54 (5) of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (“the Act”) enables the Director-General of Health, by notice in the Gazette, to state the requirements relating to the form, content and quality standards of an application to have a quality assurance activity (QAA) protected. A notice was published in the New Zealand Gazette on 18 December 2003, at page 4766. The requirements set out in the Gazette notice are summarised below:

Sections 52 to 63 of the Act provide for the confidentiality of information collected as part of a protected quality assurance process in relation to health practitioners registered under that Act. It is based on the underlying principle that there is benefit to the public from QAAs in relation to health services provided by those practitioners. There are benefits to the public through improvements in the competence and practice of health practitioners whether by QAAs or otherwise. There is a public interest test that is applied to each application to ensure that a QAA is a suitable mechanism to achieve those improvements.

Section 53 of the Act defines a QAA as an activity that is undertaken to improve the practices or competence of one or more health practitioners by assessing the health services performed by those health practitioners (whenever those services are or were performed); and includes the following acts done in the course of, or as a result of, that activity:

1. The whole or part of any assessment or evaluation;
2. The whole or part of a study of the incidence or causes of conditions or circumstances that may affect the quality of health services performed by one or more of those health practitioners;
3. Any preparation for that assessment, evaluation, or study;
4. Making recommendations about the performance of those services; and
5. Monitoring the implementation of those recommendations.

The methodology described in the notice that the Minister of Health formally signs can incorporate a number of separate activities that collectively make up the “activity” to be protected.

The application form is designed to ensure that applications:

1. Provide a title and description of the QAA.
2. Outline the purposes of the QAA.
3. Sufficiently identify the group of health practitioners who are involved in the QAA.
4. Describe the method by which the activity will be carried out.
5. Identify the procedures that will be undertaken to improve the practices and competence of the health practitioners if the activity identifies problems in the provision of any health services provided by health practitioner/s.
6. Identify the processes for providing meaningful feedback to participating practitioners.
7. Provide the name, description and official address of the body or organisation under which the QAA will be carried out.
8. Provide the name and position of the person to be “responsible” for the activity.
9. Explain clearly why it is in the public interest that the activity be declared.

In addition, the nominated responsible person must undertake to provide the reports on the activity required by the Act to be provided to the Minister of Health and to the provider of health services whose employees and agents participate in the activity.

Application for Declaration of Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the HPCAA

The application form to have a QAA declared “protected” is set out below.

This application form is available to download in Word and PDF format below. Before completing the application, you should read the Requirements Relating to the Form, Content and Quality Standards of an Application set out above.

Application for Declaration of Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (Word, 54 KB)
Application for Declaration of Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (PDF, 54 KB)

Reporting Requirements for Protected Quality Assurance Activities (QAA) under the HPCAA

There are a number of reporting requirements associated with QAA Notices and these are set out in Section 58 of the Act. Key points include that:

• The reporting requirements are mandatory
• The due date for reports is linked to the date the QAA Notice was issued
• The content of the reports is set in legislation
• The Minister of Health may revoke a QAA Notice if the reporting requirements are not met.

Guidelines to Annual Reporting to the Minister of Health (Word, 56 KB)
Guidelines to Annual Reporting to the Minister of Health (PDF, 31 KB)

Reporting Template (Word, 32 KB)
Reporting Template (PDF, 14 KB)

Replacing a responsible person for Protected Quality Assurance Activities under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003

When the Minister of Health declares a quality assurance activity to be protected he must also appoint a person to be responsible for the activity. If the responsible person ceases to be responsible for the activity because of resignation, death or the revocation of the responsible person’s appointment, a replacement must be appointed within 31 working days of the position becoming vacant. The quality assurance activity ceases to be protected if a replacement responsible person is not appointed within 31 working days of the position becoming vacant (see section 57 of the Act).

The Protected Quality Assurance Activity Notice sponsor is responsible for nominating a replacement responsible person, and should do so as soon as is possible.

The application form to nominate a replacement responsible person and declaration form signed by the responsible person should be completed and returned to the Ministry of Health.

Replace Responsible Person Application Form (Word, 26 KB)
Replace Responsible Person Application Form (PDF, 49 KB)

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Page last updated: 27 September 2007