Summer 2021 Bulletin

Message from the president 

Living in the age of COVID-19 has certainly challenged everyone in many ways, including how we fulfil our obligations under the National Regulatory Accreditation Scheme. The Psychology Council of NSW has continued to fulfil its duties to manage notifications about registered practitioners in NSW, in consultation with HCCC, and with the assistance of the HPCA.

The work goes on and we have successfully transitioned from face-to-face interviews to videoconferencing to conduct all health, performance, and conduct matters. A few internet hiccups but on the whole successful. The only matters not able to be progressed are performance assessments, as they are conducted at a practitioner’s place of practice. We envisage they will recommence as soon as it is safe to do so.

Sadly, two of our very valued members of the Council completed their time with the Council at the end of the 2020/21 financial year. They were Thomas O’Neill, a practitioner member and Hugh Macken, a legal member. They both provided a wealth of expertise that was greatly appreciated, especially by new members when starting on the Council. They will be greatly missed so thank you to you both. In their place we welcomed a new practitioner member, Ms Roslyn Knight, and a new legal member Ms Julie Hughes.

The Council is seeing new challenges in the profession due to the use of telehealth and the increase in need for psychological services at a time when practitioners are mostly working from home and are therefore professionally isolated. Practitioners are also required to be aware of new guidelines which help them to understand and meet their obligations when using social media and adhering to public health directives.

To assist practitioners understand who we are and what we do, the Council has developed a new webinar to explain the role of the Council and the part it plays in the national regulatory scheme. We’ve given it a test run and, with some further refinement following feedback, we hope to have it available on our website and available for presentations in the near future.

The latter half of 2021 has remained a challenging period for all NSW registered health practitioners. Psychologists have continued to work at the frontline of health care provision within the community, dealing with the risk and complexity of practising in the context of high service demand and the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent report from the Psychology Board of Australia notes there are 13,745 psychologists registered in NSW, representing 33% of psychologists registered nationally. On behalf of the Council, we again recognise your commitment to the community and thank you for the important work you have done in both the private and public sectors. Stay safe and stay well everyone.

Gail Purkis - President

Diagnosis using the DSM 5 or ICD-11

One of the areas of complaint to the Health Care Complaints Commission and to the Psychology Council of NSW relates to diagnosis.