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The review makes 14 recommendations in six key areas:
The Podiatry Board of Australia and the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (Ahpra) accept all 14 recommendations in the report.
The Podiatry Board and Ahpra will commence work to implement these recommendations, with the aim of strengthening public protection and regulatory effectiveness for the specialty of podiatric surgery and building public trust and confidence in the National Scheme.
Some recommendations will be implemented immediately (for example, application of the Risk Assessment Framework), other recommendations involve shorter-term actions (such as working with stakeholders to identify enhanced options for expert clinical advice), others are medium-term actions which require wide-ranging consultation (such as new practice guidelines and a review of the Advertising Guidelines), others are ultimately decisions for Health Ministers (change to the protected title) and others are complex and longer-term pieces of work, involving many stakeholders (for example, working with Governments and others to explore options to integrate podiatric surgeons into the broader healthcare system).
The Podiatry Board and Ahpra will consult widely as they progress these reforms and publish periodic implementation updates.
2. The Podiatry Board and Ahpra strengthen the registration and practice requirements for podiatric surgeons by:
Accept. The Board will consider the most appropriate mechanism for requiring all podiatric surgeons to hold an Endorsement for Scheduled Medicines and undertake consultation with stakeholders.
The Board will strengthen the CPD requirements for podiatric surgeons and undertake consultation on proposed requirements.
The Board will draft guidelines for practitioners undertaking podiatric surgery and undertake consultation on these.
3. The Podiatry Board ask the Podiatry Accreditation Committee to:
6. Ahpra and the National Boards revise the Guidelines for advertising a regulated health service to include clearer information about advertisers’ obligations under the National Law, particularly in relation to the use of titles and claims about training, qualifications, registration, experience and competence. This could include:
9. The Podiatry Board and Ahpra improve processes for obtaining expert clinical advice on podiatric surgery cases, by:
10. The Podiatry Board and Ahpra make better use of the full range of regulatory tools available to respond to notifications, in particular performance assessments for practitioners:
This recommendation is designed to ensure that the Podiatry Board takes appropriate action in relation to podiatric surgeons who may pose a higher risk to patients due to their notification history or the nature of the most recent notification(s) about them.