AUSTRALIAN CAPITAL TERRITORY

MEDICAL PRACTITIONERS REGISTRATION (AMENDMENT) ORDINANCE 1985

EXPLANATORY STATEMENT

No. 13 of 1985

The Medical Practitioners Registration (Amendment) Ordinance 1985 (the amending Ordinance) amends the Medical Practioners Registration Ordinance, 1930 (the principal Ordinance) to allow medical practitioners to advertise in a greater number of circumstances than was previously the case.  The amending Ordinance enables the permitted forms of advertising to be prescribed in the Medical Practitioners (Advertising) Regulations.  The Regulations are similar to provisions recently enacted in New South Wales, though they contain a number of variations which have resulted from consultation with the ACT Medical Board.  The Regulations nominate descriptions by which medical practitioners may identify themselves, particulars which may be included in advertisements, (hours of practice, languages spoken, fees charged, bulk billing arrangements, and the names of hospitals to which they are appointed), and specify the size, format and illumination of different types of permitted advertisements.

Section 1-2 provide for procedural provisions.

Section 3 amends paragraph 30(5)(a) of the principal Ordinance by providing that advertising is unprofessional conduct where it is otherwise than is permitted by the regulations.  Previously the exceptions were contained in sub-section 30(6).  They were limited to the advertising of the commencement or resumption of practice, changes of address, and a notice at the place of practice containing the name and qualifications of the medical practitioner working therein.

Regulations on the subject of advertising were previously rejected by the Senate Standing Committee on Regulations and Ordinances in 1963.  The proposed Regulations are different in effect from the 1963 Regulations in that they will liberalise the rights of medical practitioners to advertise rather than restrict them.

ORD 30/84