Ambulance Active Spring 2011Published By Countrywide Austral

national registration
“ In an era of increasing private involvement in ambulance work, and
a multiplicity of employers, (a national register) is a critical component
of ensuring standards and protecting public safety.”
clinical standards nationally. It would also
potentially enable industrial organisations
to protect against influxes of nonaccredited/registered
pre-hospital care
providers into the workplace by controlling
access to registration
Red tape reduction - to ensure scarce
funding and resources are maximised
in terms of delivering high-quality prehospital
care to the community and not
wasted on unnecessary duplication and
administration across jurisdictions
National register - would allow the public
to identify paramedics that have achieved
registration by making it unlawful for a
person who is not on the list of registered
paramedics to hold themselves out as one.
In an era of increasing private involvement
in ambulance work, and a multiplicity of
employers, this is a critical component
of ensuring standards and protecting
public safety
Role overlap - The face of the national
health workforce is changing. A system
in which silo professions are becoming
obsolete and there is an impediment
to provide holistic patient care. There is
growing emphasis on multi-disciplinary
teamwork and role overlap, where some of
the work of one profession overlaps that
of other. A national registration scheme
should allow allied health professionals,
nurses and paramedics, to perform some
roles or tasks that have traditionally been
those of medical practitioners. While some
might see this as a threat, it can also be
a significant opportunity to enhance our
members’ professional development
Conclusion
In addition to national registration of
health practitioners, the Australian Health
Ministers Advisory Council notes that
accreditation of service providers to ensure
national consistency of interventions,
competencies, accountability, transparent
reporting and equitable treatment of
the workforce in both the public and
private domains, should also be a
priority. At present, state, territory and
private employers of paramedics are
not accredited and there are significant
variations to clinical practice scopes
and standards across jurisdictions. Many
prominent commentators have observed
that employer-led accreditation of
paramedic practice has failed in Australia.
National registration would go some way
to addressing this failure.
Finally, there has been extensive criticism
by unions over time of individual services
being the judge and jury on matters of
clinical practice and professional conduct.
A number of parliamentary and Auditor
General enquiries have highlighted the
potential for these disciplinary proceedings
to be used in a punitive fashion. Allegations
of bullying and harassment by managers
have been raised. An independent and
transparent process for handling complaints
would perhaps be
the major benefit of
a unified National
Registration scheme
for paramedics. The
public interest would
be better served,
and principles of
natural justice more
readily protected
for union members.
It is generally
agreed that
national registration
of paramedics will
progress at some
stage. NCAU is
committed to
engaging in this
process, both to
take advantages of
any opportunities
for members
and as well as
defending their
industrial interests.
For information on paramedic registration schemes already
in operation overseas visit:
College of Paramedics, Alberta, Canada
www.collegeofparamedics.org
Health Professions Council United Kingdom
www.hpc-uk.org
About the author:
Jim Arneman worked as an Advanced
Life Support qualified paramedic for the
Ambulance Service of NSW for more than
22 years, including nearly 10 years as the
staff elected Director on the Ambulance
Board. He worked for three years as a
union organiser and served two terms as
the Secretary of NCAU. He maintains a
strong interest in clinical governance and
professional paramedic practice issues.
He will shortly commence employment
with the ACT Ambulance Service. Contact
at jarneman@ceinternet.com.au
Footnotes
1 Full details can be found at the
Australian Health Practitioner
Regulation Agency website
http://www.ahpra.gov.au
2 Australian Health Workforce Online
http://www.nhwt.gov.au/natreg.asp
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08 AMBULANCE ACTIVE SPRING 2011