New State Insurance and Care Governance Amendment Regulation 2022 released

The State Insurance and Care Governance Amendment Regulation 2022 have now commenced and apply within the SIRA NSW Workers Compensation Scheme.

The amended regulation provides SIRA with new directive powers including directing a service provider:

• Who is not complying with a provision provided under the workers compensation or motor accidents legislation
• Who is under investigation by a relevant clinical, professional or accreditation body
• Who does not comply with guidelines

These regulations are a part of a new regulatory framework that has been established to manage outlier providers who have proven a pattern of poor practice and have not rectified behaviour.

The full legislation can be found here:  https://legislation.nsw.gov.au/view/pdf/asmade/sl-2022-818.  

SIRA has made changes to the proposed draft regulations in response to feedback received from various stakeholders including Osteopathy Australia. This feedback prompted SIRA to make the following changes to the released Regulations:

• SIRA removed the ability to issue directions where it:
  • Reasonably believes a direction is required
  • Where it reasonably believes the health, conduct or performance of a relevant service provider proses a risk to injured people
• The public register will be designed in consultation with stakeholders
• SIRA should not be intervening in patient care or clinical decisions. Any concerns SIRA holds will be referred to the relevant clinical, professional or accreditation body.
• SIRA will refer to the relevant clinical, professional or accreditation body any matters related to a suspected break of their codes of conduct and standards

You can find the full list of outcomes from the consultation process on the SIRA website  

You can read Osteopathy Australia’s submitted feedback on the Draft Regulations here