NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 8

29 JANUARY 2010

MEDICAL COUNCIL OF NEW ZEALAND

SCOPES OF PRACTICE AND PRESCRIBED QUALIFICATIONS

This Notice replaces the earlier Notice of Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications (published in the New Zealand Gazette, 15 September 2004, No. 120, page 2920; and amended in the New Zealand Gazettes of 25 October 2007, No. 115, page 3077; 29 May 2008, No. 89, page 2455, and 5 June 2008, No. 93, page 2530.

This notice takes effect from 1 February 2010, with the exception of the proposed new scope of practice for teleradiology and associated prescribed qualification. The scope of practice for teleradiology and associated prescribed qualification will take effect from 1 April 2010.

Introduction

Under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003, the Medical Council of New Zealand (“the Council”) is required to define the separate areas of medicine and specialties that make up the practice of medicine in New Zealand. The Council’s role is to identify for each of these areas (known as “scopes of practice”, or “scopes”) the aspects of the practice of medicine covered by each scope. Medical practitioners seeking to practise in New Zealand must first be registered with the Medical Council in one or more relevant specific scopes of practice.

The Medical Council is also responsible for formally “prescribing” the specific qualifications that medical practitioners must have to be eligible to be registered in each of the scopes of practice. These prescribed qualifications will vary between the different scopes of practice. In many cases, a “prescribed” qualification will be an identified medical degree, or fellowship of a medical college, but in some cases the Council will require a combination of a medical degree, and additional training, or approved experience. In such cases, the medical practitioners will be required to meet all these requirements before he or she will be recognised as having the “prescribed qualification”.

This Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette provides the current complete list of the scopes of practice within which medical practitioners may practise medicine in New Zealand, and the associated (prescribed) qualifications. Where reference is made to relevant information published on the Council’s website, this can be found at www.mcnz.org.nz.

The Council last published a full list of the scopes of practice (and associated prescribed qualifications) for the profession of medicine as part of a special supplement to the New Zealand Gazette issued on 15 September 2004. Since then, the Council has published three amendment notices relating to scopes of practice. These were to:

• add the rural hospital medicine vocational scope of practice (and the associated prescribed qualification of Fellowship of the Division of Rural Hospital Medicine NZ (New Zealand Gazette, 29 May 2008, No. 89, page 2455); and

• remove the breast medicine vocational scope of practice (and by implication the associated prescribed qualification) (New Zealand Gazette, 5 June 2008, No. 93, page 2530).

• add new, approved New Zealand and Australian university primary medical degrees (New Zealand Gazette, 25 October 2007, No. 115, page 3077).

In 2009, the Council consulted on a draft updated notice to incorporate proposed amendments. After considering submissions made during the consultation, the following notice was approved by the Council at its meeting on 8 and 9 December 2009. This notice replaces all previous notices.