No images? Click here
December 2020 Newsletter
Message from the Council President
Welcome to the end of year issue of the Medical Radiation Practice Council of NSW newsletter.
As we reflect on the difficult year 2020 entailed, it is important to remember how a supportive and learning environment contributes to patient centred care as well as staff care. The added layer is acknowledging how our behaviour as practitioners impacts not only our peers but also our patients who come from different cultural backgrounds. The article on Cultures of Safety will explore this and a link to the new video on cultural safety by the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia is provided.
Many practitioners have faced challenges in providing effective health care, whilst maintaining a COVID safe environment for patients, staff and their own families on their return home from work. Others have had livelihoods impacted with reduced private revenue resulting in stand downs and decreased work hours. I would like to thank you all for your dedicated service throughout this pandemic and acknowledge the complex and changing environment in which we practise.
Tracy Vitucci
President
Medical Radiation Practice Council of NSW
Cultures of safety
Culture plays an important role in patient quality of care and safety. The culture of the workplace must support patient-centred care, so medical radiation practitioners feel safe to come to work, learn together and manage concerns about unsafe practice. When complications arise, reliable systems must be in place so that there are ways to manage these and provide the patient with the assistance they need. As practitioners’ day to day roles can be overwhelming, they should not have to go to work worrying about whether they will be safe.
Culture of safety means organisations prioritise safety and promote:
- a learning environment
- patient-centred care
- evidence-based care
- individual and organisational responsibility
- positive working environments.
Culture needs to be considered from the perspective of all individuals in the organisation and what it is like for them to work there. Leadership plays an important role in building cultures of safety. You do not have to be a manager to recognise which team members require additional support or supervision and check in with them. If you want to create change, look at what is going well and what needs to be improved. It is important that when issues occur, practitioners are treated fairly, based on the issues and not the outcome, and that lessons are learned for the profession to grow. The complexity of health care today means that patients need a team of health practitioners who are thinking critically, constantly learning and engaging patients in their care.
The Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia has launched a new video on cultural safety to coincide with World Radiography Day and NAIDOC Week. The development of this video was led by Donisha Duff, Indigenous practitioner and National Board community members. In thinking about cultural safety and safe healthcare we need to be inclusive of all who access our services and consider this a minimum capability for all practitioners.
Please click here to view the National Board’s video.
The role of the Medical Radiation Practice Council of NSW
The Council was first established in July 2012, which aligns to the national registration scheme of medical radiation practitioners with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra).
The Council is a statutory body established under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW).
The Council is made up of six members including medical radiation practitioners, a community member and a legal member who are nominated by the NSW Minister for Health and appointed by the NSW Governor.
Who's on the the Council?
Registered Medical Radiation Practice practitioner members:
- Ms Tracy Vitucci
- Dr Karen Jovanovic
- Ms Nadine Thompson
- Ms Justine Trpezanovsk
Legal member:
- Mr Greg Ros
Community member:
- Mr Warren Stretton
The term for three practitioner members and community member expires on 30 June 2021. Recently, expressions of interest were invited from practitioners and the community with an interest in applying for appointment to Council for a three-year term, commencing July 2021.
Expressions of interest from practitioners were strongly encouraged from the three divisions of practice: diagnostic radiography, radiation therapy and nuclear medicine technology.
Applications closed on 20 November 2020 and the assessment of applications, managed by the Health Professional Councils Authority (HPCA), has commenced. Current Council members are not involved in the selection process.
Understanding regulations in NSW
The Council is a statutory body that functions independently of any employer and has clear procedures for managing complaints and mandatory notifications about registered medical radiation practitioners and students in NSW.
The Council focusses on ensuring safe professional practice by minimising risk to the public and maintaining public safety. The Council exercises powers under the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW). The Council is funded by a portion of the annual Ahpra registration fees paid by practitioners practising in NSW.
The HPCA provides administrative support to the Council. The Council works closely with the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) to manage complaints.
Council activity
Since July 2012, 125 complaints have been received in NSW, 58 of which have been referred to the Council for further management.
Types of complaints received relate to:
- professional performance
- health impairment
- professional conduct.
Regardless of whether a complaint is lodged to the HCCC, Ahpra or the Council, information is shared between us.
Further information is available on our website:
Criminal offence
If you are charged with a criminal offence, you are obliged to notify Ahpra within 7 days. Read more about the Criminal History Registration Standard.
We encourage you to read more about how we manage health related complaints on our website. There is also some information about self-notifying if you have a health problem.
Mandatory reporting
In the last newsletter we explored the mandatory notification requirements on education providers, health practitioners and their employers if they have formed a reasonable belief that a practitioner has behaved in a way that constitutes notifiable conduct. Section 140 of the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (NSW) defines notifiable conduct. The Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia has published guidelines for mandatory notifications to provide direction to health practitioners, employers and education providers about the requirements for mandatory reporting.
A case study about unsatisfactory professional conduct
Unsatisfactory professional conduct is conduct that demonstrates the knowledge, skill or judgement possessed; or care exercised, by the practitioner in the practice of the practitioner’s profession is significantly below the standard reasonably expected of a practitioner of an equivalent level of training or experience.
- Unsatisfactory professional conduct of a sufficiently serious nature to justify suspension or cancellation of the practitioner’s registration; or
- More than one instance of unsatisfactory professional conduct that, when the instances are considered together, amount to conduct of a sufficiently serious nature to justify suspension or cancellation of the practitioner’s registration.
A registered medical radiation practitioner, whose registration was cancelled by the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NCAT) in 2018, recently received a criminal conviction and was fined $10,000 after he pretended to be a registered practitioner in NSW.
The practitioner had been registered in medical radiation practice since July 2012 until NCAT found the practitioner to have:
- submitted false timesheets for 30 shifts at six different hospitals, which he had not worked; and
- failed to comply with existing conditions on his registration, imposed by the Medical Radiation Practice Council of NSW.
NCAT commented that the practitioner’s actions showed that the practitioner not only breached his conditions but lacked the intention to comply with any of them.
The practitioner’s registration was cancelled in October 2018 by NCAT for unsatisfactory professional conduct and professional misconduct.
Despite not being registered, the practitioner continued to work as a medical radiation practitioner. The practitioner’s registration status came into question after his employer searched for his registration on Ahpra’s Register of Practitioners.
*Disclaimer – This case study is fictional and does not depict any real person or event.
The Medical Radiation Board of Australia publishes important information directly relevant to the practice and regulation of medical radiation in Australia in their newsletters.
You are receiving this email as a registered Medical Radiation Practitioner with the Medical Radiation Practice Board of Australia, or other stakeholder. This e-notice is sent to you as part of the regulatory function of the Medical Radiation Practice Council of New South Wales. Should you not wish to receive such newsletters in the future, please use the Unsubscribe button below.
