Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003

Review of the HPCA Act

• Purpose of the review
  
  
• Process for the review
  • Phase One - Information gathering and analysis
  • Phase Two - Workshops and draft recommendations
  • Phase Three - Finalising recommendations and reporting to Parliament
    
    
• Terms of Reference

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Purpose of the review

Section 171 of the HPCA Act requires the Director-General of Health to review the operation of the Act and consider whether any amendments to the Act are necessary or desirable. It is anticipated that a report on the review from the Director-General of Health to the Minister of Health will be ready by December 2008.

The review will examine the impact of the Act on the public, health care service providers and health professions, and determine whether the way in which the Act is being operationalised is appropriate given the costs to these parties. The review also provides an opportunity to provide information to affected parties on the Act and its potential to improve the quality of, and access to, health services and to investigate whether it could be used more efficiently to achieve its primary purpose: to protect the public.

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Process for the review

Phase One - Information gathering and analysis

The first phase of the review is to gather information. The Ministry is doing this in three ways:

• A survey document, aimed at teasing out the substantive issues surrounding the operation of the Act at a national level. The document was aimed at a wide variety of groups working with the Act across the health sector.
  
  

  View the survey document:
  
  Review of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003: Identification of issues and solutions
  
  View the analysis of reponses to the survey document:
  
  Analysis of responses to Ministry of Health survey document - Review of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003: Identification of issues and proposed solutions

  
  
  

• A web-based survey aimed at canvassing individual health practitioners on the operation of the Act. Over 960 responses were received to this questionnaire.
  
  

  View the analysis report in Word and PDF format:
  
  An Analysis of a Survey of Health Practitioners Concerning their Experiences with the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (2003) (Word, 683 KB)
  
  An Analysis of a Survey of Health Practitioners Concerning their Experiences with the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act (2003) (PDF, 373 KB)

  
  
  

• The commissioning of a literature review and report into best practice in health workforce regulation, both in the New Zealand environment and internationally.
  
  

  View the independent report:
  
  Issues Paper on International Best Practice in Health Workforce Regulation for the Ministry of Health (Word, 1 MB)

  
  

The information collected during this phase will underpin a discussion document to be released in mid-2008. That document may make recommendations for change.

Phase Two - Workshops and draft recommendations

The second phase of the review began in April with a series of workshops in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch. These workshops provided those who are interested with the opportunity to have input in to the Ministry’s thinking around draft recommendations to address the issues identified in phase one.

Health practitioners, responsible authorities and professional associations gathered to give the Ministry their opinions on the Act, the way it has been implemented since its introduction in 2003, and suggestions to improve its operation.

The pages linked to below summarise the ideas brought forward by the workshops’ participants to address the implementation issues of the Act.

• Auckland Workshop Summary, Tuesday 8 April
• Christchurch Workshop Summary, Friday 11 April
• Wellington Workshop Summary, Monday 14 April

Note: These summaries represent the ideas of those who attended the workshops, and therefore represent a wide range of views. They do not represent consensus, nor do they represent the Ministry’s final proposals on the review of the Act.

A discussion document is currently being drafted that considers options for change within the HPCA.

Phase Three - Finalising recommendations and reporting to Parliament

The final report will be delivered from the Director-General of Health to the Minister of Health by December 2008.

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Terms of Reference

Cabinet approved the Terms of Reference for the review on 21 September 2007.

Terms of Reference for the review of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (Word, 48 KB)
Terms of Reference for the review of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (PDF, 23 KB)

Consultation document: Terms of Reference for the review of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003

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Page last updated: 8 May 2008