New South Wales Repealed Acts New South Wales Repealed ActsThis legislation has been repealed.
(1) Where a person registered in the register:(a) has been convicted, either in New South Wales of an offence, or elsewhere of an offence which, if committed in New South Wales, would have been an offence, or(c) has been adjudged by the Board, after an inquiry conducted by it or a Professional Standards Committee, to have been guilty of misconduct in a professional respect,the Board may:(d) caution or reprimand the person,(e) order that the person seek medical or psychiatric treatment or counselling,(f) direct that such conditions, relating to the person’s practising physiotherapy, as it considers appropriate be imposed on the person’s registration,(g) order that the person complete such educational courses as are specified by the Board,(h) order that the person report on the person’s physiotherapy practice at the times, in the manner and to the persons specified by the Board,(i) order that the person seek and take advice, in relation to the management of the person’s physiotherapy practice, from such persons as are specified by the Board,(j) by its order impose a fine on the person of an amount, not exceeding 40 penalty units, specified in the order,(k) suspend the person’s registration for such period as the Board thinks fit, or(l) remove the person’s name from the register,or exercise any combination of the powers conferred on it by paragraphs (d)-(l).
(1A) Without limiting the meaning of the expression “misconduct in a professional respect” in subsection (1), a physiotherapist shall be guilty of such misconduct who:(a) carries on the practice of physiotherapy under a name other than the physiotherapist’s own name except whilst the physiotherapist is acting as the duly appointed locum tenens of another physiotherapist, or(b) allows the use of the physiotherapist’s name in connection with the practice of physiotherapy at premises at which the physiotherapist or the physiotherapist’s duly appointed locum tenens is not in regular attendance for the purpose of practice and supervision during the hours in which such premises are open for the practice of physiotherapy, or(c) allows any person, not being a physiotherapist, to practise physiotherapy in contravention of the provisions of section 26 at premises used by the physiotherapist or the physiotherapist’s duly appointed locum tenens for the purpose of carrying on the practice of physiotherapy, or(d) advertises otherwise than in accordance with the regulations or advertises in contravention of the regulations, or(e) by any act or omission, demonstrates a lack of adequate knowledge, experience, skill, judgment or care in the practice of physiotherapy, or(f) has been guilty of habitual drunkenness or of addiction to any deleterious drug,or engages in any other improper or unethical conduct relating to the practice of physiotherapy.
(1B) For the purposes of this section, no person shall be deemed to be a duly appointed locum tenens unless:(a) the person is appointed in writing by a physiotherapist,(b) the person is a physiotherapist at the time of taking up the person’s duties, and(c) the person is employed only during the temporary absence of the person’s employer and for a period not exceeding twelve months or for such further period as the Board may in any particular case permit.
(1C) A physiotherapist carrying on the practice of physiotherapy as or for the legal personal representative of a deceased physiotherapist who before the physiotherapist’s death carried on such practice (other than as a duly appointed locum tenens) shall not, by reason of the physiotherapist carrying on such practice for a period not exceeding twelve months after the date of death of such deceased physiotherapist or for such further period as the Minister may allow in writing in any particular case, be deemed to be guilty of misconduct in a professional respect pursuant to paragraph (a) or (e) of subsection (1A).
(2) In the case of a conviction as referred to in paragraph (a) of subsection (1), no person shall have the person’s name removed from the register or have the person’s registration suspended or have the person’s certificate of conditional registration cancelled or suspended on account thereof if the act in respect of which such person is so convicted does not, either from its trivial nature or from the circumstances under which it was committed, render such person unfit in the public interest to practise physiotherapy.
(2A) The court before whom a physiotherapist or the holder of a certificate of conditional registration is convicted of an offence in New South Wales shall, except in such classes of cases as may be specified in the regulations, notify the Board or cause the Board to be notified, of the fact that the physiotherapist or the holder of the certificate has been so convicted.
(2B) A coroner holding an inquest in which a physiotherapist or the holder of a certificate of conditional registration is involved shall supply the Board with a copy of the depositions taken at that inquest where it appears in the coroner’s opinion that the physiotherapist might be guilty of misconduct in a professional respect.
(2C) The supply to the Board of the depositions taken at an inquest pursuant to subsection (2B) shall be deemed to be a complaint to the Board alleging misconduct in a professional respect made by the coroner so supplying the depositions.
(2D) The provisions of subsection (4) shall not apply to and in respect of a complaint referred to in subsection (2C).
(2E) The Board shall, after receiving a complaint alleging misconduct in a professional respect against a physiotherapist or the holder of a certificate of conditional registration, inform the physiotherapist or the holder of the certificate of the nature of the complaint and, by notice, invite the physiotherapist or the holder of the certificate to make, within such time as the Board specifies in the notice, such representations to the Board with respect to the complaint as the physiotherapist or the holder of the certificate thinks fit.
(2F) The Board may, after receiving such representations or after the expiry of the time specified in the notice, whichever first happens, dismiss the complaint or set it down for inquiry under this section or, if the Board refers the matter to a Professional Standards Committee under section 24D, for inquiry by a Professional Standards Committee.
(3) In the case of a charge of misconduct in a professional respect the Board, in making due inquiry, shall sit as in open court, and the person charged shall be afforded an opportunity of defence either in person or by counsel.
(4) Every person, other than a member of the police force or a member of the public service acting in the member’s capacity as such a member, who makes a complaint to the Board alleging misconduct in a professional respect against any person, shall deposit with the Board the sum of ten dollars at the time of lodging the complaint.
If after considering the complaint the Board is of opinion that the complaint is vexatious or frivolous in its nature it shall so declare, and thereupon the sum so deposited shall be forfeited.
In the absence of such declaration the sum so deposited shall be refunded to the complainant.
(5) Whenever the registration of a physiotherapist is suspended under the provisions of this section the secretary shall enter in the register a memorandum of that fact and of the date and cause thereof.
(6) A fine imposed under this section:(a) is to be paid to the secretary who is to pay it to the credit of the Consolidated Fund in such manner as the Treasurer may direct, and(b) may be recovered as a debt due to the Crown in a court of competent jurisdiction.