Self-regulating health professionals get proactive about standards of practice

Concerns about practitioner regulation for professions outside of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme are being discussed throughout Australia, writes executive officer of Allied Health Professions Australia, Lin Oke. The aim is to produce an evidence-based framework of minimum standards of practice.
At the July meeting of the Standing Council on Health, Ministers considered the options for regulation of unregistered health practitioners. Ministers agreed in principle to strengthen state and territory health complaints mechanisms via: a single national Code of Conduct for unregistered health practitioners to be made by regulation in each state and territory, and statutory powers to enforce the Code by investigating breaches and issuing prohibition orders; a nationally accessible web based register of prohibition orders; and, mutual recognition of state and territory issued prohibition orders.
Such negative licensing only plays a part after an adverse event. The National Alliance of Self Regulating Health Professions (NASRHP), representing eight allied health professions which are currently outside the scope of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) is developing a model that would sit within the current regulatory framework and offer a proactive mechanism to prevent an incident occurring.
The allied health professions included in the NASHRP are; audiology, diabetes educators, clinical perfusion, orthotics prosthetics, sonography, dietetics, exercise and sports physiology, and pathology. Around 45 000 allied health professionals are members of the national professional associations in NASRHP. These health professionals generally work autonomously and deliver over 65 million health services annually. They work in both the public and private sectors, providing services across all areas within the health sector including primary care, hospital-based care, disability, mental health, and aged care.
Concerns about practitioner regulation for those outside of NRAS are currently being discussed both nationally and within some states and territories. There is significant concern and interest from consumers and media also, most recently focusing on standards for health practitioners likely to provide services through DisabilityCare Australia and those working in sports science.
NASRHP is aiming to develop an evidence-based framework of minimum standards of practice to be enforced across at least eight allied health professions in an authorised self-regulation model to be introduced in 2014/15. The Alliance has sought support from the federal government for this proactive approach to consumer safety and high quality delivery of health services provided by self-regulating health professionals.
NASRHP is supported by Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA), which is the national peak body for the allied health professions in Australia with 19 national associations as member organisations. Collectively, these organisations with their members in public, private, not-for-profit, rural and regional services across Australia, work together to provide an effective voice for over 65,000 allied health professionals in Australia. AHPA and its member organisations consider the role of appropriately trained and regulated allied health professionals is vital to the delivery of safe and effective health services, and ensuring the community has access to ‘the right practitioner in the right place at the right time’.
NASRHP has existed since 2007, initially as an informal group of self-regulating health professional associations that were member organisations of AHPA. It was formed soon after the publication of the Productivity Commission’s report Australia’s Health Workforce, when there was extensive stakeholder engagement led by the National Health Workforce Taskforce regarding a national model of health practitioner registration.
In 2010 it became apparent that there was a reluctance to extend the newly operating National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) to incorporate further professions. At this time NASRHP member organisations commenced working together to benchmark their regulatory standards. In late 2011, an opportunity was identified for NASRHP member organisations to jointly investigate a model that supported the growth and evolution of the professions they represented. Published in March 2012, Harnessing self regulation to support safety and quality in healthcare delivery presented a comprehensive model for regulating all health practitioners, within which NASRHP’s objectives were stated as:

• Seek clarity regarding regulation for their respective professions


• Benchmark their self-regulatory environment


• Advocate on behalf of the public for an improved health regulatory environment


• Address the challenges and consequences for the professions and health agencies of the current fragmentation in health practitioner regulation.

Extensive consultation followed the publication of this model and NASRHP commenced work on developing the model, while strongly advocating for such a model to be recognised via National Law.
Following the release of the Productivity Commission’s 2006 report on Australia’s Health Workforce, the Australian Government provided substantial support to enable the design, development and implementation of NRAS including seed funding for the formation of the 14 profession-specific Boards now operating under the auspices of the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA). Other funding has been made available in recent years to assist a number of health professions to develop and introduce a framework of standards supporting consumer safety and quality practice in a number of professions, including supporting the establishment of the Complementary Medicine Practitioner Associations Council (CMPAC).
AHPA argues that funding should also be made available to support the work of its NASRHP sub-committee, which is able to make a significant contribution towards assuring consumer safety and quality practice of services delivered by allied health professionals outside of NRAS.
If authorised self-regulation is introduced, the Australian community could be assured that more than 30,000 allied health practitioners, not currently regulated through AHPRA, yet delivering services in the public, private and not-for-profit sector including items under the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS) and services through DisabilityCare Australia, were fit to practice and deliver quality allied health services.
Allied Health Professions Australia and its National Alliance of Self Regulating Health Professions sub-committee will keep advocating for authorised self-regulation to minimize adverse events impacting on health consumers, whilst supporting the recent plans of Health Ministers to introduce a single national Code of Conduct for unregistered health practitioners along with statutory powers to enforce the Code.
[caption id="attachment_5200" align="alignright" width="129"] Lin Oke
Executive Officer, Allied Health Professions Australia[/caption]
“AHPA and its member organisations consider the role of appropriately trained and regulated allied health professionals is vital to the delivery of safe and effective health services.”
Allied Health Professions Australia (AHPA) is the peak body representing and advocating for the role of allied health professions in Australia. Collectively, the 19 national organisations within AHPA represent almost 65,000 health professionals – with over 11,000 working in rural and remote regions of Australia. Each organisation has internal systems and networks for liaising with its members, ensuring that AHPA communicates with health professionals, right across Australia, who together provide extensive expertise. Current AHPA membership represents the following professions: audiologists, chiropractors, dietitians, exercise physiologists, music therapists, occupational therapists, orthoptists, orthotist/prosthetists, osteopaths, pharmacists, podiatrists, perfusionists, psychologists, social workers, sonographers, speech pathologists, audiometrists, diabetes educators and practice managers.
Visit www.ahpa.com.au