Australian Capital Territory

HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AMENDMENT REGULATION 2007 (No 4)

SL2007-43

Explanatory Statement

Circulated with the authority of
Katy Gallagher MLA
Minister for Health

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

Authority

This Regulation is authorised by section 134 of the Health Professionals Act 2004.

Outline

The amendments proposed in this Regulation provide for the establishment of the registration requirements of the medical radiation scientists the newest health profession to be regulated under the Health Professionals Act 2004.  The Schedule is the result of extensive consultation with members of the diagnostic radiographer, radiation therapist and nuclear medicine scientist professions and key stakeholders.

Revenue/Cost Implications

There is no additional cost involved in this Regulation.

Formal Clauses

Clause 1 – Name of Regulation – states the title of the Regulation, which is the Health Professionals Amendment Regulation 2007 (No 4).

Clause 2 – Commencement – states when the Regulation commences. The Regulation commences on the day after notification.  

Clause 3 – Legislation amended – provides that this Regulation amends the Health Professionals Regulation 2004.

Clause 4 – Section 150 (2) (c) – substitutes a new subparagraph to change the name of the code in the subsection to bring it into line with the current name of the code in the Human Rights Commission Act 2005.  

Clause 5 – Section 150 (3) – consequential on the amendment in Clause 4 above and corrects an out of date reference to the Community and Health Services Complaints Act 1993.  

Clause 6 – Schedule 6, section 6.6 (3) (b) – this amendment corrects an incorrect reference to section 124(1) (b) relating to the cancellation of a person’s registration by the Health Professionals Tribunal.  

Clause 7 – Schedule 15 – substitutes a new Schedule 15 which covers diagnostic radiographers, radiation therapists and nuclear medicine scientist professions and has been developed following extensive consultation with members of the profession, key stakeholders and organisations that represent the interests of these professions.  The Schedule is comprehensive and covers definitions used in the schedule (section 15.1) the general area of operation of the diagnostic radiographer profession (section 15.2), the general area of operation of the radiation therapists profession (section 15.3), the general area of operation of the nuclear medicine scientists profession (section 15.4), qualifications for registration of diagnostic radiographers (section 15.5), qualifications for registration of radiation therapists (section 15.6), qualifications for registration of nuclear medicine scientist (section 15.7), maintenance and demonstration of professional development, continued competence and recency of practice of medical radiation scientists (section 15.8).  In addition, Schedule 15 includes details regarding board membership (section 15.9), required insurance policy (section 15.10), conditional registration of student and graduate diagnostic radiographers (section 15.11), conditional registration of student and graduate radiation therapists (section 15.12), conditional registration of student and graduate nuclear medicine scientists (section 15.13), conditional registration of diagnostic radiographer with unapproved qualifications (section 15.14), conditional registration of radiation therapist with unapproved qualifications (section 15.15), conditional registration of nuclear medicine scientist with unapproved qualifications (section 15.16).  The schedule also includes conditional registration for medical radiation scientists who want to teach (section 15.17), conditional registration is not limited (section 15.18), the registration renewal date for medical radiation scientists is the 30 November of each year (section 15.19), transitional provisions for qualifications of diagnostic radiographers (section 15.20), qualifications of radiation therapists (section 15.21) and qualifications of nuclear medicine scientists (section 15.22).  Transitional provisions for renewal of registration (section 15.23), board membership (section 15.24) and expiry dates (section 15.25).

Clause 8 – Dictionary, new definitions – inserts new definitions for diagnostic radiographer, medical radiation scientist, nuclear medicine scientist, radiation therapist, and regulatory authority.