Legislation
The Chiropractic Board operates under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003. The HPCA Act replaces the Chiropractor Act 1982 (which commenced on 18th September 2004).
The purpose of the Act is to protect the health and safety of members of the public by providing for mechanisms to ensure that health practitioners are competent and fit to practise their professions.
The Act is divided into 7 parts.
Part 1 deals with preliminaries and key provisions.
Part 2 deals with registration of and practising certificates for health practitioners.
Part 3 deals with competence, fitness to practise, and quality assurance.
Part 4 deals with complaints and discipline.
Part 5 deals with appeals.
Part 6 deals with structures and administration.
Part 7 deals with miscellaneous provisions, consequential amendments and repeals, and transitional provisions.
The Act has regularised scopes of practice. Scopes of practice describe the work of the profession. The scope of practice (text or the title of the scope of practice) is required to be endorsed on each practitioners Annual Practising Certificate (or Interim Practising Certificate). Every practitioner who practises must have a current practising certificate.
No person may claim to be practising a profession as a health practitioner of a particular kind or state or do anything that is calculated to suggest that the person practises or is willing to practise a profession as a health practitioner of that kind unless the person
(a) is a health practitioner of that kind: and
(b) holds a current practising certificate as a health practitioner of that kind.
Health practitioners must not practise outside their authorised scope of practice.
Practitioners who were registered under previous legislation, are deemed to be registered under the HPCA Act.
Some key definitions from the Act
Health practitioner or practitioner means a person who is, or is deemed to be, registered with an authority as a practitioner of a health profession.
Practise a profession or practise means to perform services that fall within the description of a health profession.
Scope of practice means any health service that forms part of a health profession.
The Act makes provision for the Director-General of Health to review the operation of the Act as soon as practicable following the expiry of the period of 3 years ie following September 2007.
The Act can be purchased from Bennetts Government Bookshops for $15.00.
