REGULATORY REQUIREMENTS FOR HEALTH-CARE WORKERS – PART 2

Part 2 – Requirements under the National Code

In whatever profession or career we work in, we are subject to certain laws and regulations which govern the way we work. The purpose of these is for the safety and wellbeing of workers and the public whom they serve.

Our Team fully backs and supports safe and ethical practice in health-care and we are leaders in this field in terms of the education we provide, to support the workers in health-care of tomorrow to be equipped to provide true quality care to those they serve.

In Part 1 of this series on regulatory requirements for health-care workers, we looked at the National Code of Conduct that was endorsed by COAG in 2015 and has been enacted in various states as outlined in Part 1.

In this article, we look at the provisions of the National Code and therefore the main principles you need to comply with if you are a health-care service provider. This includes massage therapists, counsellors and Chakra-puncturists, as well as naturopaths, nutritionists, paramedics, pharmacy assistants, herbalists and others. As stated in Part 1, our Team recommends that all health-care workers comply with the National Code, irrespective of whether they live in a state/territory that legally requires that, or not.

As a brief summary, health-care workers must meet certain basic standards. These include the following:

What you must do:

• Provide safe and ethical health-care

• Always obtain consent for treatment

• Maintain infection control

• Exercise all due care in relation to any conditions you have

• At all times minimise harm

• Report concerns about serious risk of harm

• Keep appropriate records

• Maintain insurance

• Display the code

What you must not do:

In addition to the above positive requirements, health-care workers must not:

• Engage in any misleading or deceptive conduct, meaning for example they must not mislead about their products, services or qualifications

• Put clients at risk due to their own physical or mental health problems

• Practice under the influence of drugs or alcohol

• Make false claims about curing serious illnesses such as cancer, or about efficacy of treatment

• Exploit clients financially

• Have an inappropriate relationship of any kind with a client

• Discourage a client from seeking other health-care or refuse to cooperate with other practitioners if clients do seek other health-care

These requirements are very important. They are very briefly referred to above.