Submission: Review of Part 8 of the Health Practitioner Regulation NSW National Law

Overview of the consultation

We recently responded to the NSW Government’s consultation on Part 8 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW). This consultation sought feedback on the complaints process.

Feedback we provided was guided by questions provided by the Ministry of Health within the consultation paper. Key points from our response include:

Increasing clarity on the definition of ‘public interest’ used under the threshold test to decide if immediate actions are required.
Reviewing the complaints process to ensure:
- Greater transparency
- A detailed notification procedure is in place
- Enhanced procedural fairness
- Identification of potential basis
- Increase support for practitioners
- Improved timeliness of outcomes.
Highlighting that NSW is the only state operating with a co-regulatory model involving individual profession Councils which are self-funded by practitioners. As such we have called for the NSW Government to subsidise these costs or to abolish the co-regulatory model.