Hearing member resources | Medical Council of New South Wales

Overview

The following resources inform the work of Council and hearing members:

Codes, guidelines and handbooks

The following resources inform the work of Council and hearing members:

To view the full list of the Council's Drug and Alcohol Screening Policies and Procedures, please go to the Monitoring section of our Policies page.

Legislation

We were created and given our legal powers by the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW). From time to time, the NSW Parliament makes changes to this law. Some of the important changes made since 2014 are listed in this section of the website, along with other relevant legislation.

Telling complainants about outcomes

Since 1 November 2015 we must tell the person who made a complaint (the complainant) about the outcome of the complaint. This is required under Section 145BA of the National Law (NSW), when a Council has:

referred a practitioner to a Professional Standards Committee hearing (Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Medical council)
referred a practitioner to a Council Inquiry (all councils except Nursing and Midwifery Council and the Medical Council)
required a practitioner to have an independent health or performance assessment
referred a practitioner directly to an Impaired Registrants Panel, without a preliminary assessment
referred a practitioner for counselling
referred the matter to another body, or
decided to take no further action.

If a practitioner's registration:

is suspended
is cancelled or
has restrictions on his/her practice through conditions imposed on it

this will be recorded on the National Register of practitioners. Check the National Register.

Notifying employers about changes to a practitioner’s registration

Under section 176BA of the National Law we must tell the practitioner's employers and any licensed private health facilities that have accredited the practitioner to provide services, whenever:

conditions are imposed on the practitioner’s registration,
conditions on the practitioner’s registration are amended, or
conditions on the practitioner’s registration are removed.

Restrictions to practitioners’ registration, including conditions, suspensions and cancellations, are published on the online register of practitioners.

Check the National Register.

Relevant NSW legislation

Act or regulation	Primary purpose
Health Practitioner Regulation (New South Wales) Regulation 2016	Composition of the NSW Health Professional Councils, infection control standards, record keeping requirements for medical practitioners.
Government Information (Public Access) Act 2009 (GIPA Act)	Replaced the Freedom of Information (FOI) laws.
Health Care Complaints Act 1993	Dealing with complaints about health professionals.
Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Act 1966
Poisons and Therapeutic Goods Regulation 2008	The regulation, control and prohibition of the supply and use of poisons, restricted substances, drugs of addiction, certain dangerous drugs and certain therapeutic goods.
Health Records and Information Privacy Act 2002
Health Records and Information Privacy Code of Practice 2005
Health Records and Information Privacy Regulation 2012	Protects, with certain exceptions, the privacy of an individual’s health information that is held in the public and private sectors.
Public Health Act 2010	The maintenance of proper standards of health for the public.
Mental Health Act 2007	The care, treatment and control of mentally ill and mentally disordered individuals and other matters relating to mental health.
Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998	The protection of personal information, and the protection of the privacy of individuals generally.

You can access NSW legislation through the NSW Parliamentary Counsel’s legislation website.

Practice notes

The Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA) periodically publishes practice notes to help councils and other regulatory decision makers apply Part 8 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) in a legally sound manner.

While practice notes are primarily intended for internal use, we publish them in the interests of transparency. They are not legal advice and health practitioners should seek their own advice as required.

Case notes

Case Notes highlight and discuss important messages and guidance taken from significant Tribunal decisions, which can apply to all health professional councils. The focus is educative.

Case Notes are authored by the Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA) Legal and published for the information of HPCA stakeholders. They are not intended to replace legal advice.

Case note	Summary
Lee	Examines the basis on which the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal can stay a decision made under s. 150 of the National Law.
Knowles	Examines the extent of procedural fairness to be given to a practitioner before s.150 proceedings are held
Jangodaz	Highlights the importance of maintaining professional boundaries for all registered health professionals and that a failure to do so is an abuse of power on the part of the practitioner
Burton	Analyses novel arguments about nature of an appeal against s.150 action and the nature of a performance assessment in that context
Orr	Reinforces mandatory reporting is a professional obligation on all registered health practitioners and the potential impact of failing to make a mandatory report on the public and the practitioner concerned
Solomon	Looks at the relevant standard and rationale for the reasons provided by health professional decision making bodies
Bova	Examines the relevance of Council email deliberations in an appeal against s.150 action in the context of a summons and acknowledges that Council can conduct business via email
Perceval	Emphasises the importance of precision in drafting conditions or restrictions on a practitioner’s or student’s registration and the impact on their enforceability
Bainbridge	Analyses the impact of the practitioner’s repeated failures to comply with health conditions on: public health and safety; professional competence and conduct, and on the public resources expended by the regulator in monitoring compliance with health conditions where the impairment is longstanding and ongoing.
Kirby	Examines Council processes in managing a complaint including, information gathering and s.150and s.150A decision making in the context of an apprehended bias claim against Council decision makers.
Meneghetti	Emphasises the obligation on medical practitioners to exercise independent professional judgment in providing health services to the public and the importance of being candid with regulatory authorities.

Other resources

More policies which may impact the work of Council members can be found here.

To view the full list of the Council's Drug and Alcohol Screening Policies and Procedures, please go to the Monitoring section of our Policies page.

Resources to assist hearing members continue their work during operational changes due to COVID-19:

Connecting to Skype for Business for S150s.

How the hearing will operate via Skype.

Quick Reference Guides

Opening remarks for hearing members

IRP Opening Remarks to suspended doctors can be found here:

IRP Opening Remarks to Dr can be found here:

Performance Review Panel Opening Remarks to Doctor can be found here:

Purpose of S150 Proceedings can be found here:

Online learning modules

QRG for Module 1 can be found here:

QRG for Module 2 can be found here:

QRG for Module 3 can be found here:

QRG for Module 4 can be found here:

QRG for Module 5 can be found here: