NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE, No. 12

3 FEBRUARY 2012

MEDICAL COUNCIL OF NEW ZEALAND

SCOPES OF PRACTICE AND PRESCRIBED QUALIFICATIONS

This Notice replaces the earlier Notice of Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications* and the Medical Council of New Zealand Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications (Special Purpose Postgraduate Training) Amendment Notice 2011†.

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 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”.

To be able to practise medicine in New Zealand, a registered medical practitioner must hold a current practising certificate. To be eligible for a practising certificate, a medical practitioner must meet any recertification requirements set by the Council.

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 notice also corrects typographical errors in the January 2010 notice* and makes some stylistic changes for clarity, which do not alter the effect of the gazetted requirements.

The Council last published a full list of the scopes of practice (and associated prescribed qualifications) for the profession of medicine on 29 January 2010*. Since then the Council has consulted on, and approved, the following changes to the content of the 29 January 2010 supplement:

1. Changes to the requirements of the Special Purpose Postgraduate Training Scope of Practice (published as the Medical Council of New Zealand Scopes of Practice and Prescribed Qualifications (Special Purpose Postgraduate Training) Amendment Notice 2011†)

2. Changes to the prescribed qualifications for the provisional general scope of practice (pathway 4) (to recognise specialist trainees registered by the Irish Medical Council). Approved by the Council on 11 October 2011.

3. Changes to the prescribed qualification for the general scope of practice (pathway 4) (to add option 2 at page 6 of this notice). Approved by the Council on 11 October 2011.

4. Changes to the provisional general scope of practice (to remove current limitation of supervision to that provided by a registered medical practitioner, to allow provision of approved supervision in the form of an Approved Practice Setting). Approved Practice Setting supervision option approved by Council on 13 April 2010.

5. Changes to the Special Purpose Locum Tenens scope of practice (to extend the permitted maximum registration from six months to 12 months). Approved by the Council on 13 December 2011.

These changes are now included in this new comprehensive gazette notice. This notice replaces all previous notices. The changes at 2–5 above take effect from 2 March 2012.

• Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette, 29 January 2010, No. 8, page 253

† New Zealand Gazette, 5 May 2011, No. 50, page 1396