Health Professionals’ Competency Assurance Bill Discussion Paper
Date of publication: September 2000
Introduction
The Ministry of Health currently administers 11 occupational regulation statutes covering 18 health and disability sector professions (see Appendix 1).These statutes establish registering authorities for the purposes of determining the competencies required for safe practice and registering practitioners who demonstrate they possess these competencies.
Most of these statutes are old. They are, in many cases, inflexible, overly restrictive and do not meet the needs of the relevant profession or consumers. For example, some Acts specify in legislation the course or programmes necessary for registration, which means that any time changes are made to the course or programme, the legislation has to be amended.
A number of health sector professions are regulated by voluntary incorporated societies rather than statutory bodies. Some of these professions want to be statutorily regulated. Some unregulated professions have more than one professional body. This has created friction in cases where the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC)and other insurers will recognise one professional body but not another for reimbursement.
It is proposed to repeal the existing health regulation statutes and replace them with a single,
overarching Act: the Health Professionals ’Competency Assurance Act (HPCA).It is envisaged that this single Act would be more enabling and give the respective registering authorities more discretion in decision-making.
A number of questions are asked throughout this document. Comments on these or any other
issues would be appreciated. Feedback will assist in the preparation of legislative proposals for Government.
Feedback should be sent to:
Occupational Regulation Legislation Project
Sector Policy Directorate
Ministry of Health
PO Box 5013
WELLINGTON
or e-mail:kate_garland@moh.govt.nz
Submissions closed 15 November 2000
Note: Your submission may be requested under the Official Information Act 1982. If this happens, the Ministry of Health will release your submission to the requester. However, if you are an individual (as opposed to an organisation), the Ministry will omit your personal details from the submission if you include the following statement at the front of your submission and sign it: ‘I do not give permission for my personal details to be released to persons requesting my submission under the Official Information Act 1982.'
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Related information
Acts and Regulations
The Health Practitioners Compency Assurance Act 2003 legislation is available online at www.legislation.govt.nz