New Zealand Legislation: Acts
Acts are laws made by Parliament
(1) In sections 52 to 63, unless the context otherwise requires,—
health practitioner means,—
(a) in the period commencing with the commencement of this section and ending on the day that is 1 year after the date on which this Act receives the Royal assent, a registered health professional within the meaning of section 4 of the Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994; and
(b) after that period, a health practitioner as defined in section 5(1)
investigation means any of the following:
(a) the proceedings of a Royal Commission or a commission of inquiry appointed by an Order in Council made under the Commissions of Inquiry Act 1908:
(b) the proceedings of an inquiry board appointed under the New Zealand Public Health and Disability Act 2000:
(c) an inquiry required by the Director of Mental Health under section 95 of the Mental Health (Compulsory Assessment and Treatment) Act 1992:
(d) an inquiry conducted by the Director-General of Health:
(e) an inquiry or investigation conducted by the Health and Disability Commissioner:
(f) an inquiry conducted by the Police
judicial proceeding means any proceeding that is a judicial proceeding within the meaning of section 108 of the Crimes Act 1961
Ministerial authority means an authority given by the Minister under section 61 and for the time being in force
protected quality assurance activity means a quality assurance activity in respect of which a notice issued under section 54 is in force when the activity is engaged in
quality assurance activity—
(a) means an activity that is undertaken to improve the practices or competence of 1 or more health practitioners by assessing the health services performed by those health practitioners (whenever those services are or were performed); and
(b) includes the following acts that are done in the course of, or as a result of, that activity:
(i) the whole or part of any assessment or evaluation:
(ii) 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 1 or more of those health practitioners:
(iii) any preparation for that assessment, evaluation, or study:
(iv) making recommendations about the performance of those services:
(v) monitoring the implementation of those recommendations
serious offence means an offence punishable by imprisonment for a term of 2 years or more
sponsor, in relation to a quality assurance activity, means the person or association of persons on whose initiative and under whose guidance the activity is undertaken, continued, or resumed.
(2) For the purposes of sections 54 to 63,—
(a) information about a matter may not be taken to have become known merely because of the existence or dissemination of suspicions, allegations, or rumours about that matter:
(b) information may be taken to have become known solely as a result of a protected quality assurance activity, even though the information was previously known to a person whose conduct has been or is being investigated by the persons engaging in the protected quality assurance activity:
(c) information is not to be taken to have become known solely as a result of a protected quality assurance activity if, after a person has been requested to respond to, or give evidence in, a judicial proceeding or an investigation, the information is disclosed in the course of a protected quality assurance activity wholly or partly for the purpose of preventing its disclosure in the judicial proceeding or the investigation:
(d) information that has become known solely as a result of a protected quality assurance activity (not being information of the kind described in paragraph (c)) may be disclosed in a judicial proceeding or an investigation only if its disclosure is permitted by section 59 or section 60.
Compare: 1995 No 95 s 66
