New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
(1) Part 1 is concerned with preliminary matters, such as the definitions of terms used in the Act. It also contains certain key provisions. These include provisions that—
(a) prohibit persons who are not qualified to be registered as health practitioners of a profession from claiming or implying to be health practitioners of that profession:
(b) prohibit persons other than registered health practitioners of a profession with current practising certificates from claiming to be practising the profession:
(c) prohibit health practitioners from practising their professions without current practising certificates or from practising their professions outside their scopes of practice:
(d) authorise the making of Orders in Council restricting the provision of the whole or part of certain health services to health practitioners who are permitted to perform those activities by their scopes of practice.
(2) Part 2 sets out the conditions that a health professional must meet in order to practise as a health practitioner under this Act. The Part includes provisions that—
(a) require every health practitioner to be registered for a scope of practice:
(b) require applicants for registration—
(i) to have the qualifications prescribed by the responsible authority for the applicant's intended scope of practice; and
(ii) to be competent to practise within that scope of practice; and
(iii) to be fit for registration, which includes the ability to communicate effectively for the purposes of practising within that scope of practice:
(c) stop a health practitioner from practising without a current practising certificate:
(d) stop the authority, in the case of applications for practising certificates, from approving those applications unless the authority is satisfied that the health practitioners concerned are competent to practise in accordance with their scopes of practice.
(3) Part 3 provides mechanisms for improving the competence of health practitioners and for protecting the public from health practitioners who practise below the required standard of competence or who are unable to perform the required functions. These mechanisms include competence reviews, competence programmes, recertification programmes, medical examinations, and protected quality assurance activities. The Part also contains provisions that—
(a) allow health practitioners to notify the responsible authority if they have reason to believe that another health practitioner may pose a risk of harm to the public by practising below the required standard of competence:
(b) enable the responsible authority to order the interim suspension of a health practitioner's practising certificate if there are reasonable grounds for believing that the practitioner poses a risk of serious harm to the public by practising below the required standard of competence:
(c) enable the responsible authority to order the suspension of a health practitioner if the authority is satisfied that the practitioner is unable to perform the functions required for the practice of his or her profession because of some mental or physical condition or if the practitioner has not complied with a requirement for a medical examination:
(d) enable the Minister to confer protection on quality assurance activities conducted to improve the practices or competence of health practitioners and so protect the confidentiality of information that becomes known solely as a result of those activities and give those engaged in those activities immunity from civil liability.
(4) Part 4 provides for the establishment by each authority of professional conduct committees to investigate complaints referred to the authority by the Health and Disability Commissioner. Professional conduct committees are also required to investigate the circumstances of certain offences committed by health practitioners. The Part also establishes a single tribunal, called the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal, to hear and determine charges brought against practitioners by the Director of Proceedings or by a professional conduct committee.
(5) Part 5 provides for appeals to a District Court against the decisions of an authority, and for appeals to the High Court against decisions of the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal.
(6) Part 6 continues certain registration authorities as authorities under the Act. It also establishes the Midwifery Council, the Osteopathic Council, and the Pharmacy Council. The Part also contains provisions that—
(a) enable additional health professions to be designated under the Act and authorities to be appointed for such additional professions:
(b) set out the functions of authorities. These include—
(i) prescribing the qualifications required for scopes of practice:
(ii) authorising the registration of health practitioners:
(iii) reviewing and maintaining the competence of health practitioners:
(iv) setting standards of clinical competence, cultural competence, and ethical conduct:
(v) setting programmes to ensure the ongoing competence of health practitioners:
(c) provide for the membership of authorities:
(d) confer certain powers on the Minister in relation to authorities:
(e) require authorities to maintain public registers of health practitioners.
(7) Part 7 contains (in subpart 1) miscellaneous provisions, including provisions of general application (such as, for example, a provision on the way notice is to be given under the Act), consequential amendments, repeals, savings, and (in subpart 2) transitional provisions, including provisions for the continued recognition of the registration of health practitioners who were, immediately before the expiry of 1 year beginning on the date on which this Act received the Royal assent, registered under a health-registration statute.
(8) This section is only a guide to the general scheme of this Act.