Response due date is 30 January 2020.
You can find out more about the Council's consultation below before reading the "Proposed Policy on Publication and Naming of osteopaths subject to and order or direction" and then please give us your feedback by doing the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MXYQBMQ
Changes to the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 that came into effect in April 2019 means that the Council is required to develop, consult on and publish a naming policy for osteopaths following an order or direction under the Act by mid-April 2020. The Council has developed the attached draft policy and seeks your opinion on the proposed policy by 30 January 2020. The relevant sections of the Act are attached to the proposed policy as appendix 2.
Under the Act the Council is required to consult and take into account any comments received from:
Under section 157 of the Act the Council may publish in any publication a notice setting out:
An order is a decision made by the Council about a osteopath that the Act describes as an order. Under section 156A of the Act an order must:
Orders are made under different parts of the Act (registration, health, competence and conduct).
Although some provisions use the word “order”, or “direction” not all functions that are ordered are “orders” or “directions” under the Act. An example is section 67A(2) of the Act where the Council may “order” a osteopath to undergo a specified medical examination. However, this can only proceed with the consent of the osteopath, there has been no finding and it cannot be appealed to the District Court.
Orders are also described in section 157 as having an effect and a finding. The Council’s proposed policy is therefore confined to orders that may be the subject of an appeal under section 106 of the Act.
Some orders result in a osteopaths’ practising certificate or registration being suspended. Others result in conditions being included in a osteopath’s scope of practice that are recorded on the public register. Other orders may not result in conditions being included such as requiring a osteopath to undertake a competence programme.
Although the purpose of the policy is to:
The publication of orders is not limited to those made under the disciplinary process and the proposed policy therefore includes orders made under the health, competence and general provisions.
Under section 157G a naming policy must be consistent with:
The naming policy must be available on the website.
The naming policy comes into force on the day after the date of issue.
The Council must review the policy within three years after the policy comes into force and then every three years after that. The same consultation will apply.
The Osteopathic Council is introducing a Code of Conduct to ensure it is setting appropriate standards of ethical conduct for osteopaths to protect the health and safety of health consumers. The Council is required to set standards of ethical conduct to be observed by osteopaths under section 118 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003.
The Code is a set of standards set by the Council in consultation with the profession, the public and other stakeholders that describes the behaviour and conduct that osteopaths are expected to uphold. It provides guidance on appropriate behaviour and can be used by health consumers, osteopaths, employers and other health practitioners to evaluate the conduct of osteopaths.
Osteopaths must be able to be held accountable for their practice by health consumers, employers, the Health and Disability Commissioner, the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal and other agencies as well as the Osteopathic Council. Some conduct that falls below a standard expected of an osteopath may be managed through the remedial competence review process rather than by a disciplinary process.
Standards of ethical conduct for professionals are usually contained in codes developed by regulators or professional associations. Codes fall into three broad categories: codes of ethics, codes of conduct and codes of practice.
A Code of Ethics was developed by the Osteopathic Council in 2009. This code was intended to provide a common standard for all osteopaths to follow and a benchmark for the public on the standard of practice they can expect from an osteopath. Since the development of this Code there have been changes in the expectations of health consumers and Tribunal decisions across all professions about professional behaviour that means the Council is required to provide more guidance on the behaviour and conduct of the profession, particularly in the area of professional boundaries. The Code of Conduct will replace the current Code of Ethics.
Codes of conduct have been developed by regulators to provide guidance to the public and to practitioners to assist in determining professional misconduct. These documents prescribe minimum standards of behaviour for the profession and contain authoritative statements that are legally enforceable. They may also contain some aspirational statements and ideal value statements, but these are not intended to have any legal effect.
In 2018 the development of a Code of Conduct was the focus of the three regional conferences held in Auckland, Christchurch and Wellington. At that conference there was general support for adopting the Code of Conduct that had been developed for osteopaths, with some changes that reflect osteopathic practice.
The Council has developed a draft Code of Conduct and seeks your opinion on the proposed policy by 30 January 2020. Please send your feedback to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Click here to view the draft Code of Conduct.
1. Do you agree with the standards and principles set out in the draft Code of Conduct? If not what other standards or principles do you think should apply?
2. Are there any other suggestions you would like to make to improve this Code of Conduct?
Recertification Programme letter
Notice of New Recertification Programme: Child and Adolescent Health in Osteopathy
Ara Institute of Canterbury information leaflet
Over the last two years ACC has been working with an expert reference group on an evidence-based review on acupuncture modalities. The full evidence-based review commissioned from the University of South Australia, Consensus Document from the expert reference group and a 1 page description of the project are attached.
We are seeking feedback from clinical professions regarding how and when they use acupuncture modalities. These include both needling and adjunct/allied treatments (eg. Moxibustion, cupping, Gua Sha, Tuina) to gain an understanding of how these are used in New Zealand to supplement our findings from the literature.
Any feedback or questions can be send through to: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
The questions are:
Attachment 1 - To be uploaded
We invite your feedback Response due date is 30 January 2020. You can find out more about the Council's consultation below before reading the "Proposed Policy on Publication and Naming of osteopaths subject to and order or direction" and then please give us your feedback by doing the survey here: ...
Over the last two years ACC has been working with an expert reference group on an evidence-based review on acupuncture modalities. The full evidence-based review commissioned from the University of South Australia, Consensus Document from the expert reference group and a 1 page description of the...
Introduction The Osteopathic Council is introducing a Code of Conduct to ensure it is setting appropriate standards of ethical conduct for osteopaths to protect the health and safety of health consumers. The Council is required to set standards of ethical conduct to be observed by osteopaths under...
