Recognition of vocational scopes of practice
The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCAA) requires us to specify the scopes of practice within which doctors are permitted to practice, and to describe and define the boundaries of each.
We have 36 recognised vocational scopes of practice.
Recognised vocational scopes of practice
Council has 36 recognised vocational scopes of practice. These are areas of specialised medical practice, each defined by an accredited postgraduate training programme and qualification. Council accredits the training and recertification programmes against the relevant standards.
Council recognises that each scope of practice must be supported by a robust training programme, delivering an appropriate qualification for that scope, and that doctors registered in that new scope need to have access to a recertification programme directed to maintaining competence in that scope.
To be recognised, each scope must therefore have:
- a defined body of knowledge and practice
- a recognised health need
- an acceptable training programme with a nationally recognised qualification
- an acceptable recertification programme
- a national organisation with the authority to advise us on vocational scopes.
Recognition of new vocational scopes of practice in New Zealand
The recognition standards help to assess whether ongoing developments and innovations in medical care warrant formal recognition of a discipline as a distinct specialty within the context of the Aotearoa New Zealand health system and medical education sector. The standards have also been designed to distinguish between a distinct medical specialty and what might better be regarded as a ‘special clinical interest’.
Recognition must be in the public interest and enhance public safety and health outcomes.
An application for recognition of a new scope of practice must be from an organisation that intends to deliver the vocational training programme that leads to registration in the prospective vocational scope, and the recertification programme that will be undertaken by doctors registered and practising in the prospective vocational scope.
The recognition process comprises four stages. For a new vocational scope to be recognised, stages 1-3 must be successful. If at the end of any stage, Council’s decision is that the applicant has not met the standards, the process ends.
The stages are:
Stage 1: application for recognition of a new vocational scope of practice and initial review
Stage 2: consideration by assessment panel of application for recognition of a new vocational scope
Stage 3: accreditation as a training provider for vocational medical training and recertification
Stage 4: formal recognition.
The process for recognition of a new vocational scope of practice is lengthy. If you have any questions, please contact the Council’s Education team at education@mcnz.org.nz
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This document outlines the policy, process and guidelines for recognition of a new vocational scope of practice.
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This document outlines the standards that an applicant will be assessed against.
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This guide outlines the requirements an applicant must meet in the second stage of the recognition process. This stage looks at the applicant body's specialist training and professional development programmes.
Training provider accreditation standards
In stage 3 the applicant provider’s potential training and recertification programme is assessed against the accreditation standards for vocational medical training and recertification programmes.
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It is Council’s role to accredit and monitor specialist training providers and to promote medical education training in Aotearoa New Zealand. Council assesses Aotearoa New Zealand-based vocational medical training and recertification providers against these standards.
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The Council and the Australian Medical Council (AMC) work together on accrediting the vocational medical training programmes offered by Australasian (joint Australian and New Zealand) vocational providers. If the applicant provider is seeking recognition in Australia (as an Australasian training provider), or if the scope is already recognised in Australia, stage 3 will be led by the AMC, with Council making a decision based on the AMC’s assessment.