Health Practitioner Regulation National Law (South Australia) Act 2010

Health practitioners: All registered health practitioners in South Australia are directly affected. Registration, renewals, conditions, endorsements, notifications, mandatory reporting, and disciplinary proceedings apply to all practitioners.

AHPRA and National Boards: AHPRA administers the scheme. National Boards make registration and disciplinary decisions. In SA, the SA Employment Tribunal hears referred disciplinary matters.

Health employers and education providers: Employers and education providers have mandatory notification obligations. An employer must notify AHPRA if a practitioner is dismissed or has conditions imposed on their employment because of concerns about conduct, competence, or impairment.

Pharmacy operators: Pharmacy operators in SA must register their premises with the Pharmacy Regulation Authority SA under Part 4. The Part 4 restrictions on the number of pharmacies, supervision by pharmacists, and prohibition on conducting unrelated businesses at pharmacies directly affect pharmacy business structures.

Optical dispensers: Part 5 creates offences for unlicensed optical appliance dispensing and for dispensing under expired prescriptions.

Rural health services providers: Part 5A applies to providers of health services in remote areas, requiring them to have policies and procedures for practitioner safety and to ensure practitioners are accompanied by second responders when attending alone. State contracts cannot be awarded to non-compliant providers.

Patients and the public: The National Law contains obligations about advertising (s 133), restrictions on the use of protected titles (ss 113-120), and practice protections (ss 121-123A) that directly affect consumers.

Registration requirement: A person must not use a protected title or perform a restricted act unless registered for the relevant profession (National Law ss 113-123A). For example, dental acts may only be performed by registered dental practitioners (s 121). Spinal manipulation is restricted to registered chiropractors, osteopaths, physiotherapists, and medical practitioners (s 123).

Renewal and annual statement: Practitioners must renew registration annually. The annual statement (National Law s 109) requires practitioners to declare compliance with continuing professional development, professional indemnity insurance, and other registration requirements.

Mandatory notifications: Practitioners must notify AHPRA if they have a reasonable belief that a registered practitioner has engaged in prescribed conduct (sexual misconduct, impaired practice, significantly below-standard care, practising outside registration). Employers and education providers also have mandatory notification obligations (National Law Part 8 Division 3).

Continuing professional development: A condition of registration is that practitioners complete continuing professional development as specified in the relevant Board's registration standard (National Law s 128).

Professional indemnity insurance: Practitioners must maintain professional indemnity insurance as required by the applicable registration standard (National Law s 129).

Pharmacy supervision: Each pharmacy in SA must be under the supervision of a pharmacist when open for business (Part 4 s 43).

Pharmacy ownership restrictions: Section 42 restricts the number of pharmacies that may be conducted by related entities. Pharmacy chains are subject to specific restrictions under SA law.

Remote area second responder: Part 5A requires health practitioners attending single-person consultations in remote areas to be accompanied by a second responder (s 77E), except where exemptions apply.

National Board registration powers: National Boards may refuse registration, impose conditions, grant registration with undertakings, and decide all registration categories (National Law ss 82, 83, 83A). Boards may check criminal history and proof of identity (ss 78-80).

Registration withdrawal: National Boards may withdraw registration in prescribed circumstances (ss 85A-85E of National Law), a power added after the original scheme commenced.

Responsible tribunal orders (s 10 of the Act and National Law Part 8): The SA Employment Tribunal can impose conditions on a practitioner's registration (including interim conditions under s 10 of the Act), suspend registration, cancel registration, or reprimand a practitioner. The Tribunal may also impose fines.

Interim suspension and conditions: Section 10 of the Act gives the Tribunal power to make interim orders (suspending registration or imposing conditions) pending the outcome of disciplinary proceedings.

SA Employment Tribunal participation of assessors: Under s 9 of the Act, the Tribunal may be constituted with medical or other professional assessors to assist it in assessing professional standards.

Pharmacy Regulation Authority SA powers: The Authority may register, refuse to register, or impose conditions on pharmacies and pharmacy service providers. It may investigate and conduct disciplinary proceedings against pharmacy operators (Part 4 Division 6).

Authorised officers: Part 4 s 64 and Part 5 s 77 authorise inspectors and officers to enter pharmacy premises and optometry settings to investigate compliance.

Title and practice offences: Using a protected title without registration, performing a restricted act, or making false claims about registration are offences under the National Law (ss 113-123A). Penalties are set in the National Law.

Mandatory notification failure: Failure to make a mandatory notification when required is an offence under the National Law, though certain defences and exceptions apply.

Disciplinary orders: The SA Employment Tribunal may cancel or suspend registration, impose conditions, require undertakings, or reprimand a practitioner. Financial penalties may also be imposed.

Pharmacy offences: Part 4 creates offences for: operating an unregistered pharmacy (s 41); failing to maintain pharmacist supervision (s 43); conducting prohibited other businesses at pharmacy premises (s 44); making false or misleading statements (s 65); and contravention of prohibition orders (s 55).

Optometry offences: Part 5 creates offences for dispensing optical appliances without authorisation (s 74), dispensing under an expired prescription (s 75), and failing to give a free prescription on request (s 76).

Remote area safety: Part 5A creates obligations on providers of remote health services to maintain policies and procedures (s 77H) with consequences including State contract ineligibility (s 77J) for non-compliance.

Registration application (National Law Part 7): Application to the relevant National Board via AHPRA. Boards must decide within a prescribed period. If no decision is made within the period, the applicant is taken to have been refused (s 85).

Annual renewal (National Law Part 7 Div 9): Practitioners must renew annually by lodging an application and completing the annual statement. Registration continues while a renewal application is pending (s 108).

Notification and investigation (National Law Part 8): A notification or complaint triggers an investigation. The investigator prepares a report. If serious concerns are identified, the matter may be referred to a co-regulatory authority or the responsible panel. Serious matters are referred to the responsible tribunal (SA Employment Tribunal).

Tribunal proceedings (Part 3 of the Act): Summonses may be issued. Parties may be required to undergo medical examination. Failure to comply with a summons is an offence (s 12). Fine recovery is addressed in s 15.

Pharmacy registration: Applications for pharmacy registration are made to the Pharmacy Regulation Authority SA. The Authority maintains registers. Reviewable decisions include registration refusals and cancellations (s 48). Review is available to the SA Employment Tribunal (s 62).

Participating jurisdiction application Acts: The equivalent Acts in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, Tasmania, the ACT, and the Northern Territory apply the same National Law. The Queensland Health Practitioner Regulation National Law Act 2009 (as confirmed in Broadbent [2011] FCA 980) was the Queensland model.

Mutual Recognition Act 1992 (Cth): National registration has effectively subsumed much of the mutual recognition regime for health practitioners, though the Mutual Recognition Act principles apply in the background.

Trans-Tasman Mutual Recognition Act 1997 (Cth): The National Law includes trans-Tasman recognition provisions (s 9 of the National Law - trans-Tasman mutual recognition principle), connecting the Australian scheme to New Zealand health practitioner registration.

SA Employment Tribunal: The responsible tribunal for SA disciplinary proceedings (ss 6, 6A, 6B). The Tribunal hears matters referred from national Boards and AHPRA.

Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (Cth) and Competition Policy: The pharmacy ownership restrictions in Part 4 s 42 (restriction on number of pharmacies) interact with competition policy. The restrictions create barriers to pharmacy chain ownership in SA.

SA Freedom of Information Act: The Act cross-references FOI applications in transitional provisions (Schedule 1, Part 18 cl 49).

National Law is applied from Queensland, not separately enacted: Section 4 applies the National Law as set out in Schedule 2 "as a law of this jurisdiction." Practitioners and advisers need to read the National Law in Schedule 2, not just the Act's short operative provisions. Amendments to the Queensland National Law will flow through to SA; advisers should check the current Queensland Act for the latest version.

SA-specific Parts supplement, not replace, the National Law: Parts 3, 4, 5, and 5A are SA-only provisions that operate alongside the national scheme. Pharmacy operators must comply with both the National Law pharmacy practitioner registration requirements and the SA-specific pharmacy premises registration in Part 4.

Mandatory notification obligations are strict: Mandatory notifications are required when a practitioner has a reasonable belief about a peer. The standard is objective: it is not necessary that the practitioner has formed a definitive view. Failure to notify is an offence.

Remote area second responder: The Part 5A obligation to have a second responder is unique to SA. Health services operating in remote SA must maintain appropriate policies and cannot contract with service providers that do not comply with s 77H.

Protected title offences are strict liability: Using a protected title (e.g., "doctor", "specialist") when not registered carries strict liability offences. Deliberate evasion (e.g., calling oneself a "specialist consultant") may still contravene s 115 or s 118.

Annual statements contain registration conditions: The annual statement requires a declaration of compliance with CPD, indemnity insurance, and other registration requirements. Providing a false or misleading annual statement is an offence.

Example 1: Mandatory notification A physiotherapist employed at a hospital becomes aware that a fellow physiotherapist has been attending work impaired by alcohol and has twice delivered care that the employee physiotherapist believes was significantly below the standard a reasonable physiotherapist would provide. Under the National Law's mandatory notification provisions, the employee physiotherapist must notify AHPRA. Failure to do so is an offence.

Example 2: Pharmacy registration and ownership restrictions A pharmacy chain wishes to open a new outlet in South Australia. Under Part 4 s 42, SA has restrictions on the number of pharmacies that may be conducted by a pharmacy services provider or related entities. The chain must assess whether the new outlet will place it in breach of the ownership limit, and must register the new premises with the Pharmacy Regulation Authority SA under s 41 before commencing business.

Example 3: Tribunal interim suspension A medical practitioner is the subject of serious notifications alleging that he performed surgery while impaired. While the disciplinary proceedings are pending, the SA Employment Tribunal, under s 10 of the Act, makes an interim order suspending the practitioner's registration. The practitioner cannot lawfully practise medicine until the interim order is lifted or the substantive proceedings are resolved.

Example 4: Remote area safety compliance A health service provider in remote South Australia employs community nurses who sometimes conduct home visits alone to assess patients. Under Part 5A, the provider must develop and maintain policies and procedures addressing how practitioners are kept safe when attending alone (s 77H). The policies must ensure that second responders accompany practitioners in remote areas where required (s 77E). A state government health authority will not contract with a provider that has not complied with s 77H (s 77J).