New South Wales Consolidated Acts

HEALTH PRACTITIONER REGULATION NATIONAL LAW (NSW) - SECT 176BA

176BA Council to notify employers and accreditors about conditions concerning health, conduct or performance of health practitioners [NSW]

(1) This section applies if a Council makes any of the following decisions (a
"condition decision" ) with respect to a registered health practitioner under this Law--

(a) to impose conditions on the practitioner's registration concerning the health, conduct or performance of the practitioner;

(b) to alter or remove conditions that the Council has imposed on the practitioner's registration concerning the health, conduct or performance of the practitioner.

(2) The Council must, as soon as practicable after it makes a condition decision with respect to a registered health practitioner, give written notice of the decision to each employer or accreditor of the practitioner.

(3) The Council may also, if it considers it appropriate, give written notice of a condition decision with respect to a registered health practitioner to an entity that becomes the practitioner's employer or accreditor after the decision is made.

(4) The notice must include the details of the conditions that have been imposed or removed or the alterations that have been made to conditions that have been imposed.

(5) If the notice given by the Council is about a condition that is imposed, altered or removed because of an impairment of the registered health practitioner, the practitioner's employer or accreditor must ensure that the nominated or agreed information recipient discloses or uses information about the impairment only for the purpose of--

(a) the supervision or oversight of the practitioner during the course of the practitioner's work for the employer or accreditor; or

(b) ensuring the safety of patients at premises used by the practitioner during the course of the practitioner's work for the employer or accreditor.

: Maximum penalty (subsection (5))--

(a) in the case of an individual--20 penalty units; or

(b) in the case of a body corporate--50 penalty units.

(6) An employer or accreditor of a registered health practitioner may nominate another person to be the nominated information recipient for the purposes of subsection (5), but only if the person is--

(a) involved in the supervision or oversight of registered health practitioners of the kind concerned during the course of their work; or

(b) responsible for ensuring the safety of patients at premises used by registered health practitioners of the kind concerned during the course of their work.

(7) If an employer or accreditor has not nominated a person to be the nominated information recipient for the purposes of subsection (5), the Council may, after consulting the employer or accreditor (and, if it considers it appropriate, the registered health practitioner concerned), provide information about the impairment to an agreed information recipient who is a person of a kind referred to in subsection (6) (a) or (b).

(8) In this section and section 176BB--

"accreditor" , in relation to a registered health practitioner, means a licensee for a private health facility under the Private Health Facilities Act 2007 that has accredited the health practitioner to provide services at the facility.

"employer" , in relation to a registered health practitioner, means an entity that has--

(a) employed the health practitioner or other person under a contract of employment to provide services to or for the entity; or

(b) appointed or engaged the health practitioner or other person under any other kind of contract or agreement to provide services to or for the entity.