Who's who in medical regulation

News

28 Jun 2021

A podcast explaining how co-regulation of registered health practitioners works in New South Wales has been released by the Medical Council of NSW.

The podcast features Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) Executive Director of Regulatory Operations, Kym Ayscough, along with Medical Council of NSW President, Dr John Sammut, and Health Care Complaints Commission Executive Director of Complaints Operation, Tony Kofkin.

The 20-minute podcast breaks down the different roles of each regulator within NSW, compared to the rest of Australia, and how the three regulators manage co-regulation across 16 health professions.

All three regulators work together to protect the public, which includes ensuring that complaints about registered health practitioners, unregistered health professionals and health services are managed by the correct regulator.

The 15 Health Professional Councils in NSW, along with Ahpra and 15 national health practitioner boards, are part of the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme. The councils, which includes the Medical Council, manage complaints about practitioners and students based in NSW.

The Health Care Complaints Commission resolves, investigates and prosecutes complaints about healthcare. It deals with complaints about all health services and providers in NSW.

Ahpra works with the national health practitioner boards in the development of registration standards, codes and guidelines that support safe practice by all registered health practitioners in Australia and is responsible for the receipt of mandatory notifications about practitioners and students. Ahpra also manages the national online register of practitioners.

More information about co-regulation is on the Ahpra website.

The podcast is hosted by Dr Martine Walker, a general practitioner, hearing member and Medical Adviser for the Medical Council of NSW.

Listen to the podcast on:

For more information

Email any questions or feedback about the podcast to HPCA-MCNSW-CommunicationsTeam@health.nsw.gov.au
Ahpra media line (03) 8708 9200