Consultation on Health Workforce Regulation

The NZSA wishes to bring to your attention a recent announcement from the Minister of Health regarding a government review of health workforce regulation and consultation on proposed changes to the regulation of health professionals in New Zealand. You can read the full statement here: Reducing red tape to put patients first

This consultation document suggests several significant changes, including:

• Granting the government the ability to set lower standards for the registration of health professionals.
• The removal of requirements for understanding te ao Māori or tikanga in health professional regulation.
• Allowing ministers to register individuals even if they have been declined by the relevant regulatory body.
• Enabling the government to force regulatory bodies to merge.

The NZSA is concerned that these proposed changes pose a serious threat to patient safety, the integrity of our profession, and the future of physician-led anaesthesia in New Zealand. Ensuring high standards in medical training and regulation is essential for the safe and effective care of our patients.

The NZSA will be making a formal submission in response to this proposal, and we would appreciate to hear members’ thoughts to help inform this submission.

Share your feedback

You can read the consultation paper on the Ministry of Health’s website: Consultation document.

We invite you to share your feedback on the points raised in this consultation to help guide the Society’s response by email to nzsa@anaesthesia.nz before Tuesday 22 April.
NZSA staff are happy to meet over a virtual call if you would prefer.

We also strongly encourage you to submit your views through the Ministry of Health’s website: Putting Patients First: Modernising Health Workforce Regulation. A few of you have reached out with questions about this, and to help, we have offered some tips below. Some members have reached out with questions about this, and to help, we have offered some tips below.

Your voice is crucial in safeguarding the future of healthcare in New Zealand. Thank you for your attention to this important matter.

Submitting your own response

The Ministry is seeking feedback via this survey. The survey covers the questions shared within the consultation document.

Responses can be short, or they can simply be a tick on questions asking for this selection. You can also start your submission and come back to it later.

There are a lot of questions, and some appear to have similar topics approached in different ways. You do not need to answer all questions. It is still helpful if you choose to answer just a few that you have particular views on.

Some questions relating to specific topics that you may wish to answer:

• Regulation of Physician Associates and/or the consideration of roles such as these in the future: Page 2 – Question 3, Page 5 – Question 2.
• Knowledge and skills as part of regulation, including cultural competency: Page 2 – Tick box Question 7.
• The whole document has an overarching discussion about government involvement in regulation. Some specific questions you could answer on this are: Page 4 – Question 3, Page 5 – Question 2.
• You can also use this opportunity to provide feedback based on any issues your region or workplace is facing that could be addressed through reviews of the Medical Council’s or other regulatory processes. In particular: Page 2 – Question 5, Page 5 – Question 1.