1) The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003
Is a remarkable piece of legislation in two ways. First it outlines what is a health professional, and how health professionals practice under the law - this is mainly carried out by medical professionals via their own field of expertise, as professional associations. Secondly - it also leaves the door open for the development of new medical practice and new ways for medical professionals to organise themselves.
This second part has been good for setting standards and development of best practice in the alternative/complementary health care sector. Indeed - for some associations outside the Act - The New Zealand Association of Medical Herbalist for example - this has meant they have created a peer review and patient complaints process which is seamless and highly professional. And in some ways is simpler to access and understand than other statutory regulated associations.
My hope is in the future is that the medical practitioners within and outside the Act, will influence each other more and more to get the best results for patients/consumers.
Here is the preamble to the act and a link to the act itself.
The
Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (the Act) provides
a framework for the regulation of health practitioners in order to
protect the public where there is a risk of harm from professional
practice.
Having
one legislative framework allows for consistent procedures and
terminology across the professions now regulated by the Act. The
principal purpose of protecting the health and safety of the public
is emphasised and the Act includes mechanisms to ensure that
practitioners are competent and fit to practise their professions for
the duration of their professional lives.
The
Act was passed by Parliament on 11 September 2003 and received the
Royal assent on 18 September 2003. The Act came fully into force on
18 September 2004. In doing so, the Act repealed 11 occupational
statutes governing 13 professions.
Not
all health professions are regulated under the Act. Not being
regulated under the Act does not imply that a profession lacks
professional standards. Some are not regulated because they pose
little risk of harm to the public; some are not regulated because
they work under the supervision of a regulated profession; some are
regulated in other ways. For example, they may be regulated through
their employer or self-regulated by their profession.
2) The Health and Disability Commissioner (Code Of Health and Disability Services Consumers' Rights) Regulation 1996
We will just call it the code from here on in. Is a framework for your rights when accessing any health professional. Here is the legislation if you want to read it.
I will go into each of these 10 basic rights in more detail over the coming weeks. This will expanding on official explanations and offering some criticisms and alternatives on how the legislation is playing out in the real world.
So for now here is the code in it's most basic form. Your 10 rights.
Right 1: the right to be treated with respect
Right 2: the right to freedom from discrimination, coercion, harassment, and exploitation
Right 3: the right to dignity and independence
Right 4: the right to services of an appropriate standard
Right 5: the right to effective communication
Right 6: the right to be fully informed
Right 7: the right to make an informed choice and give informed consent
Right 8: the right to support
Right 9: rights in respect of teaching or research
Right 10: the right to complain
So by now I hope you realise you're a consumer when you deal with any health professionals. It is an important distinction to remember, because as a consumer of goods and services the relationships you have and develop from now - have very different meanings than the traditional, Doctor/patient relationships of the past.
Finally - there are many Acts which govern health and health care in Aotearoa/New Zealand and we will look at many of them over time. Not all of them - for example I'm not going to deal with the Biosecurity Act 1993, even though the act has many important associations with health. As this Blog is more concerned with dealing with consumer rights and consumer legislation around health.
