Page 1751 - Week 06 - Tuesday, 6 June 2006
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committees, allowing for frank discussion of issues leading to improvements in systems and processes, and benefits to the public as a result of improvements in healthcare.
The bill also proposes an amendment to the Health Professionals Act to postpone the default commencement provisions for a period of six months. The Health Professionals Act 2004 requires the gradual transition of identified health professions in the ACT from their current legislative arrangements to the Health Professionals Act 2004. The transition requires that individual professions develop new schedules specific to their particular profession. Once the new health professional schedules have formally commenced, then the corresponding health profession registration act is repealed.
The profession-specific schedules are being developed by health professional boards in consultation with members and organisations representative of the particular profession. These schedules, when allowed by the ACT Legislative Assembly, will replace the current individual health profession registration acts. The profession-specific schedules will contain provisions that are specific to the particular health profession and are the means by which the new legislative framework can accommodate registration requirements that are peculiar to particular health professions, while still maintaining overall consistency in the uniform application of current health professional standards to all health professions in the ACT.
A number of health professions are also using the transition to the Health Professionals Act as an opportunity to modernise their health profession-specific requirements. This has required, in some instances, a complete rewrite of the current registration acts which have, over time, included a number of ad hoc provisions which are inappropriate for inclusion in health professional standards legislation. In addition, the current registration acts contain a number of provisions that need to be relocated, repealed or amended. These consequential changes are also required to take place before the default provisions can take effect.
The scrutiny of bills committee have noted that the provisions regulating the admissibility of evidence in territory courts are incompatible with section 21 (1) of the Human Rights Act and/or are inconsistent with the Evidence Act 1995. The provisions of the bill restrict the production of documents produced expressly for an approved committee or statements made within the committee. The bill plays a central role in promoting quality assurance activities within the health sector.
Legislation provides protection from litigation to members of committees and those supporting them in relation to those activities. It is very limited in its application. Immunity is the very essence of the legislation as it facilitates full and frank disclosure and discussion of the issues before a quality assurance or clinical privileges committee. The legislation will not restrict access to those documents normally produced in the health sector. These documents are subject to the powers of courts and tribunals to compel disclosure.
The default commencement provisions in the Health Professionals Act are scheduled to take effect on 9 July 2006. On that day, all remaining ACT health professional legislation that is not being transferred by way of a health profession-specific schedule to the Health Professionals Act will be repealed. This would lead to uncertainty and
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