Ambulance Active Spring 2011Published By Countrywide Austral
Ambulance Active is published by Countrywide Austral. Countrywide Austral adheres to stringent ethical advertising practices and any advertising inquiries should be directed to Countrywide Austral Level 2, 673 Bourke Street, Melbourne • GPO Box 2466, Melbourne 3001 Ph: (03) 9937 0200 Fax: (03) 9937 0201 • Email: admin@cwaustral.com.au
Ambulance Active is published by Countrywide Austral. Countrywide Austral adheres to stringent ethical advertising practices and any advertising inquiries should be directed to Countrywide Austral Level 2, 673 Bourke Street, Melbourne • GPO Box 2466, Melbourne 3001
Ph: (03) 9937 0200 Fax: (03) 9937 0201 • Email: admin@cwaustral.com.au
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
national registration<br />
“ In an era of increasing private involvement in ambulance work, and<br />
a multiplicity of employers, (a national register) is a critical component<br />
of ensuring standards and protecting public safety.”<br />
clinical standards nationally. It would also<br />
potentially enable industrial organisations<br />
to protect against influxes of nonaccredited/registered<br />
pre-hospital care<br />
providers into the workplace by controlling<br />
access to registration<br />
Red tape reduction - to ensure scarce<br />
funding and resources are maximised<br />
in terms of delivering high-quality prehospital<br />
care to the community and not<br />
wasted on unnecessary duplication and<br />
administration across jurisdictions<br />
National register - would allow the public<br />
to identify paramedics that have achieved<br />
registration by making it unlawful for a<br />
person who is not on the list of registered<br />
paramedics to hold themselves out as one.<br />
In an era of increasing private involvement<br />
in ambulance work, and a multiplicity of<br />
employers, this is a critical component<br />
of ensuring standards and protecting<br />
public safety<br />
Role overlap - The face of the national<br />
health workforce is changing. A system<br />
in which silo professions are becoming<br />
obsolete and there is an impediment<br />
to provide holistic patient care. There is<br />
growing emphasis on multi-disciplinary<br />
teamwork and role overlap, where some of<br />
the work of one profession overlaps that<br />
of other. A national registration scheme<br />
should allow allied health professionals,<br />
nurses and paramedics, to perform some<br />
roles or tasks that have traditionally been<br />
those of medical practitioners. While some<br />
might see this as a threat, it can also be<br />
a significant opportunity to enhance our<br />
members’ professional development<br />
Conclusion<br />
In addition to national registration of<br />
health practitioners, the <strong>Austral</strong>ian Health<br />
Ministers Advisory Council notes that<br />
accreditation of service providers to ensure<br />
national consistency of interventions,<br />
competencies, accountability, transparent<br />
reporting and equitable treatment of<br />
the workforce in both the public and<br />
private domains, should also be a<br />
priority. At present, state, territory and<br />
private employers of paramedics are<br />
not accredited and there are significant<br />
variations to clinical practice scopes<br />
and standards across jurisdictions. Many<br />
prominent commentators have observed<br />
that employer-led accreditation of<br />
paramedic practice has failed in <strong>Austral</strong>ia.<br />
National registration would go some way<br />
to addressing this failure.<br />
Finally, there has been extensive criticism<br />
by unions over time of individual services<br />
being the judge and jury on matters of<br />
clinical practice and professional conduct.<br />
A number of parliamentary and Auditor<br />
General enquiries have highlighted the<br />
potential for these disciplinary proceedings<br />
to be used in a punitive fashion. Allegations<br />
of bullying and harassment by managers<br />
have been raised. An independent and<br />
transparent process for handling complaints<br />
would perhaps be<br />
the major benefit of<br />
a unified National<br />
Registration scheme<br />
for paramedics. The<br />
public interest would<br />
be better served,<br />
and principles of<br />
natural justice more<br />
readily protected<br />
for union members.<br />
It is generally<br />
agreed that<br />
national registration<br />
of paramedics will<br />
progress at some<br />
stage. NCAU is<br />
committed to<br />
engaging in this<br />
process, both to<br />
take advantages of<br />
any opportunities<br />
for members<br />
and as well as<br />
defending their<br />
industrial interests.<br />
For information on paramedic registration schemes already<br />
in operation overseas visit:<br />
College of Paramedics, Alberta, Canada<br />
www.collegeofparamedics.org<br />
Health Professions Council United Kingdom<br />
www.hpc-uk.org<br />
About the author:<br />
Jim Arneman worked as an Advanced<br />
Life Support qualified paramedic for the<br />
<strong>Ambulance</strong> Service of NSW for more than<br />
22 years, including nearly 10 years as the<br />
staff elected Director on the <strong>Ambulance</strong><br />
Board. He worked for three years as a<br />
union organiser and served two terms as<br />
the Secretary of NCAU. He maintains a<br />
strong interest in clinical governance and<br />
professional paramedic practice issues.<br />
He will shortly commence employment<br />
with the ACT <strong>Ambulance</strong> Service. Contact<br />
at jarneman@ceinternet.com.au<br />
Footnotes<br />
1 Full details can be found at the<br />
<strong>Austral</strong>ian Health Practitioner<br />
Regulation Agency website<br />
http://www.ahpra.gov.au<br />
2 <strong>Austral</strong>ian Health Workforce Online<br />
http://www.nhwt.gov.au/natreg.asp<br />
Regis Group<br />
* 45 Aged Care Facilities<br />
across <strong>Austral</strong>ia<br />
* Specialist low, high, dementia<br />
and respite care<br />
Proudly supporting ambulance<br />
professionals across the country<br />
Regis is living, with support<br />
1300 998 100<br />
www.regis.com.au<br />
08 AMBULANCE ACTIVE SPRING 2011