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This is a Bill, not an Act. For current law, see the Acts databases.
Queensland
Health Quality and Complaints
Commission Bill 2006
Queensland
Health Quality and Complaints
Commission Bill 2006
Contents
Page
Chapter 1 Preliminary
1 Short title . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2 Commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3 Main objects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
4 Act binds all persons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
5 Contravention of this Act does not create civil cause of action . . 15
6 Act does not affect other rights or remedies. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
7 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
8 Meaning of health service . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
9 Meaning of provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
10 Meaning of user . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Chapter 2 Establishment, independence, functions and powers of
commission
11 Establishment of commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
12 Commission's independence . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
13 Commission's functions--health service complaints . . . . . . . . . . 17
14 Commission's functions--quality of health services. . . . . . . . . . . 17
15 Commission's functions--information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
16 Commission's other functions. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
17 Cooperation with other entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
18 Commission's powers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
19 Commission's procedures informal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Chapter 3 Quality of health services
20 Duty of provider . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
21 Commission may ask provider for information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
22 Commission may make standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
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Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
23 Consideration of provider's compliance with s 20(1) . . . . . . . . . . 21
24 Action by commission for contravention of s 20(1) . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
25 Show cause notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
26 Representations about show cause notice. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
27 Ending show cause process without further action . . . . . . . . . . . 23
28 Finalising report under s 24(1)(b) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
29 Finalising report under s 24(1)(b) without giving show cause
notice ..................................... 24
30 When Minister must table report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Chapter 4 Development of Code of Health Rights and Responsibilities
31 Code of Health Rights and Responsibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
32 Consultation on code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
33 Content of code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
34 Principles relating to content of code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
Chapter 5 Health complaints
Part 1 Interpretation
35 Types of health complaints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
36 Meaning of health quality complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
37 Meaning of health service complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Part 2 Making health complaints
Division 1 Who may make health quality complaints
38 Who may complain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28
39 Health quality complaint about matter happening before
commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
Division 2 Who may make health service complaints
40 Who may complain . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
41 Representative health service complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
42 Health service complaint about matter happening before
commencement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
43 Substitution of complainant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
44 Health service complaints about persons who are no longer
registered providers ............................ 31
Division 3 Process for making health complaints
45 How to make a health complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
46 Oral complaints to be confirmed in writing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
47 Complainant to reveal identity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
48 Further information from complainant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
49 Commission may require oath or statutory declaration . . . . . . . . 33
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Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Part 3 Dealing with health quality complaints
50 How commission must deal with a health quality complaint. . . . . 33
51 Dealing with quality matter as health service complaint. . . . . . . . 34
Part 4 Dealing with health service complaints
Division 1 Early resolution of health service complaints
52 Early resolution. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
Division 2 Assessment of health service complaints
53 Commission to immediately assess each health service
complaint ................................... 35
54 Notice of decision to assess health service complaint . . . . . . . . . 36
55 Submissions about health service complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
56 Power to require information. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
57 Consultation with registration board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
58 Time limit on assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
59 Decision on assessment of health service complaint. . . . . . . . . . 39
60 Notice of assessment decision. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
Division 3 Action on acceptance of health service complaints
61 Action on acceptance of complaint about provider. . . . . . . . . . . . 40
62 Matters about conciliation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
Division 4 Decisions not to take action on health service complaints
63 When commission must decide not to take action . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
64 When commission may decide not to take action . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
65 Withdrawal of complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Division 5 When commission must refer health service complaints to
registration boards
66 Referral to registration board in public interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
Division 6 Other matters
67 Commission may deal with complaint as 2 or more
complaints ................................ 44
68 Registration board may delegate function under s 57 . . . . . . . . . 45
69 Reports by certain entities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
70 Use of health service complaint information for quality functions. 46
71 General powers to gather information and facilitate resolution
of complaints ................................... 47
Chapter 6 Conciliation
72 Conciliator's function exclusive. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
73 Commission officer not to conciliate and investigate same health
service complaint . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
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Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
74 Conciliation function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
75 Public interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
76 Action by commission on becoming aware of public
interest issue ................................ 48
77 Progress reports from conciliator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
78 Results report from conciliator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
79 Enforceable agreement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
80 Action on report of unsuccessful conciliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
81 Ending conciliation by commission. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
82 Conciliation privileged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
83 Confidentiality of conciliation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
84 Professional mentor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
85 Administrative support staff . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
Chapter 7 Investigations by commission
Part 1 Commission's investigations
86 Commission's investigations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Part 2 Referral of matter to other entity
87 Referral to another entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
88 Investigation by other entity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
89 Commission's powers not affected by reference . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Part 3 Action on investigation
90 Definitions for pt 3. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
91 Commission's report about investigation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
92 To whom report may be given . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
Part 4 Conciliation after investigation
93 Conciliation of investigated health service complaint . . . . . . . . . . 58
Chapter 8 Inquiries by commission
94 Commission may conduct an inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
95 Commission must conduct inquiry if directed by Minister. . . . . . . 59
96 Constitution of commission for inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
97 Who is to preside at inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
98 Commission must be assisted by lawyer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
99 Procedure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
100 Notice of inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
101 Inquiry to be held in public other than in special circumstances . 60
102 Suppression of name of witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
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Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
103 Protection of commission members, representatives and
witnesses ...................................... 61
104 Record of proceedings to be kept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
105 Commission's powers on inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
106 Notice to witness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
107 Notice requiring information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
108 Inspection of records or other things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
109 Offences by witnesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
110 Contempt of commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
111 Change or absence of inquiry member . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
112 Report by commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
113 Minister must table report. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Chapter 9 Monitoring, enforcement and investigations
Part 1 Authorised persons' functions and powers generally
114 Functions of authorised person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
115 Powers of authorised person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Part 2 Appointment of authorised persons
116 Appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
117 Appointment conditions and limit on powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
118 Issue of identity card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
119 Production or display of identity card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
120 When authorised person ceases to hold office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
121 Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
122 Return of identity card . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 68
Part 3 Powers of authorised persons
Division 1 Power to obtain information
123 Power to require information or attendance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
124 Offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
125 Inspection of produced things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
Division 2 Entry of places
126 Power to enter places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Division 3 Procedure for entry
127 Entry with consent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
128 Application for warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
129 Issue of warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
130 Application by electronic communication and duplicate warrant . 74
131 Defect in relation to a warrant. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
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Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
132 Warrants--procedure before entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 76
Division 4 Powers after entry
133 General powers after entering places . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
134 Exercise of general powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
135 Failure to help authorised person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
Division 5 Power to seize evidence
136 Seizing evidence at a place that may be entered without
consent or warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
137 Seizing evidence at a place that may only be entered with
consent or warrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
138 Receipt for seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
139 Forfeiture of seized thing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80
140 Dealing with forfeited things etc.. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
141 Access to seized things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
142 Return of seized things. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Division 6 Compensation
143 Notice of damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
144 Compensation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Division 7 General enforcement matters
145 Obstructing authorised person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
146 Impersonation of authorised person. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
Chapter 10 Matters concerning the commission
Part 1 Membership
147 Membership of commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
148 Commissioner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
149 Assistant commissioners . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
150 Ineligibility for appointment as commission member . . . . . . . . . . 86
151 Term and conditions of appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
152 Vacancy in commission member's office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
153 Removal or suspension of commission member . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
154 Grant of leave to commission member. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
155 Filling vacancies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Part 2 Commission business
156 Conduct of business . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
157 Presiding at meetings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
158 Times and places of meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
159 Quorum for meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
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160 Conduct of meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
161 Minutes. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
162 Disclosure of interest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
Part 3 Ministers powers to give directions
163 Minister may direct inquiry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
164 Other directions by Minister . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Part 4 Other matters
165 Commission's relationship with the State . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
166 Delegation by the commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
167 Preservation of rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92
168 Superannuation for commission member who was previously
a public service officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
169 Committees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
170 Nomination of persons for membership of district health
councils ..................................... 94
171 Application of various public sector Acts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
172 Annual report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
173 Special report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
Chapter 11 Office of the Health Quality and Complaints Commission
Part 1 Establishment
174 Establishment of office . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Part 2 Office's function and powers
175 Function and powers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
176 Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Part 3 Chief executive officer
177 Appointment of chief executive officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
178 Conditions of appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
179 Function of chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
180 Chief executive must act independently etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
181 Delegation by chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
182 Resignation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
183 Ending of appointment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
184 Acting chief executive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
185 Preservation of rights . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
186 Superannuation for chief executive who was previously a
public service officer. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Part 4 Other staff of the office
187 Other commission staff. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
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Chapter 12 Registration boards
188 Information from registration board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
189 Registration board may ask commission for information . . . . . . . 101
190 Commission may intervene in disciplinary proceedings. . . . . . . . 101
Chapter 13 Offences and proceedings
191 False or misleading statements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
192 False or misleading records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
193 Reprisal and grounds for reprisals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
194 Offence for taking reprisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
195 Damages entitlement for reprisal . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
196 Summary offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
197 Limitation on time for starting proceedings for summary
offence .................................... 104
198 Proceedings for indictable offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
199 Limitation on who may summarily hear indictable offence . . . . . . 105
200 Allegations of false or misleading information or records . . . . . . . 105
201 Appointments and authority . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
202 Signatures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
203 Other evidentiary aids . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 106
Chapter 14 Other matters
204 Verifying information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
205 Response to adverse comments in commission report . . . . . . . . 107
206 Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make submissions . . . . 107
207 Commission may give combined notice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
208 Failure by commission to give notice or make assessment . . . . . 108
209 Form of consultation between commission and registration
board ........................................ 109
210 Commission may provide information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
211 Investigation etc. despite proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
212 Giving of information protected . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 109
213 Reports privileged . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
214 Preservation of confidentiality . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
215 Protecting officials from liability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
216 Review by committee of the Legislative Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
217 Regulations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
9
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 15 Repeal and transitional provisions
Part 1 Repeal
218 Repeal of Health Rights Commission Act 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
Part 2 Transitional provisions
219 Definitions for pt 2. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
220 References to repealed Act or former commission . . . . . . . . . . . 114
221 Assets and liabilities etc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
222 Officers of former commission . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
223 Former commission's records . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
224 Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 115
225 Health service complaints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
226 Direction of Minister given under repealed Act. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
227 Offences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
228 Things seized . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
229 Former commission's annual report for 2005-2006 . . . . . . . . . . . 117
230 Amendment of regulation by Act . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
231 Transitional regulation-making power . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
Chapter 16 Amendment of Health Services Act 1991
232 Act amended in ch 16. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118
233 Amendment of s 2 (Definitions) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
234 Amendment of s 10 (Appointment of members). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119
235 Amendment of s 17 (Times and places of meetings) . . . . . . . . . . 119
236 Amendment of s 22 (Managers for districts) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
237 Insertion of new s 23A . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
23A Tabling of council reports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
238 Amendment of s 24 (Appointment of health service employees) . 120
239 Insertion of new s 62LA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
62LA Disclosure to Health Quality and Complaints
Commission ..................... 121
240 Insertion of new pt 9, div 6 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121
Division 6 Transitional provisions for Health Quality and
Complaints Commission Act 2006
83 Existing members of district health councils. . . . . . . . 121
Chapter 17 Amendment of other legislation
241 Amendment of legislation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122
Schedule 1 Health services . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Schedule 2 Registration boards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
10
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 Consequential amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 126
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2003 . . . . . . . . . . 126
Chiropractors Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Commission for Children and Young People and Child
Guardian Act 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Coroners Act 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127
Criminal Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Dental Practitioners Registration Act 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128
Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Registration
Act 2001 ................................. 129
Disability Services Act 2006 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Evidence Regulation 1993 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 129
Freedom of Information Act 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130
Health Practitioners (Professional Standards) Act 1999 . . . . . . . 130
Health Practitioners (Special Events Exemption) Act 1998 . . . . . 138
Industrial Relations Act 1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 138
Medical Practitioners Registration Act 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Medical Radiation Technologists Registration Act 2001. . . . . . . . 139
Mental Health Act 2000 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Nursing Act 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139
Occupational Therapists Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 143
Ombudsman Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Optometrists Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Osteopaths Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
Parliament of Queensland Act 2001. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Personal Injuries Proceedings Regulation 2002. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Pharmacists Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Physiotherapists Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
Podiatrists Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Prostitution Act 1999 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Psychologists Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 148
Public Health Act 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Public Health (Infection Control for Personal Appearance
Services) Act 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Public Service Act 1996 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
Public Service Regulation 1997 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Residential Services (Accreditation) Act 2002 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
11
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Speech Pathologists Registration Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 150
Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Regulation 1997. . . . . 151
Schedule 4 Other amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Registration
Act 2001 ..................................... 152
Health Act 1937 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
Health Practitioners (Professional Standards) Act 1999 . . . . . . . 153
Health Services Act 1991 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
Hospitals Foundations Act 1982. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 154
Nursing Act 1992 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 156
Pest Management Act 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Public Health Act 2005 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 157
Public Health (Infection Control for Personal Appearance
Services) Act 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
Research Involving Human Embryos and Prohibition of
Human Cloning Act 2003 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1979 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160
Schedule 5 Dictionary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
2006
A Bill
for
An Act to establish the Health Quality and Complaints
Commission, to improve the quality of health services and to
provide for the monitoring of the quality of health services and
the management of health complaints, and for other purposes
s1 14 s3
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
The Parliament of Queensland enacts-- 1
Chapter 1 Preliminary 2
1 Short title 3
This Act may be cited as the Health Quality and Complaints 4
Commission Act 2006. 5
2 Commencement 6
(1) This Act, other than section 240, commences on 1 July 2006. 7
(2) Section 240 commences on a day to be fixed by proclamation. 8
3 Main objects 9
(1) The main objects of this Act are to provide for-- 10
(a) oversight and review of, and improvement in, the quality 11
of health services; and 12
(b) independent review and management of health 13
complaints. 14
(2) The objects are to be achieved mainly by establishing the 15
Health Quality and Complaints Commission and conferring 16
on the commission functions and powers, including functions 17
and powers relating to-- 18
(a) monitoring, reviewing and reporting on the quality of 19
health services; and 20
(b) recommending action to improve the quality of health 21
services; and 22
(c) receiving and managing complaints about health 23
services; and 24
(d) helping users and providers to resolve health service 25
complaints; and 26
(e) preserving and promoting health rights. 27
s4 15 s8
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
4 Act binds all persons 1
(1) This Act binds all persons, including the State and, as far as 2
the legislative power of the Parliament permits, the 3
Commonwealth and the other States. 4
(2) Subsection (1) does not make the State, the Commonwealth or 5
another State liable to be prosecuted for an offence against 6
this Act. 7
5 Contravention of this Act does not create civil cause of 8
action 9
Subject to section 195,1 no provision of this Act creates a civil 10
cause of action based on a contravention of the provision. 11
6 Act does not affect other rights or remedies 12
(1) This Act does not affect or limit a civil right or remedy that 13
exists apart from this Act, whether at common law or 14
otherwise. 15
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), compliance with this Act 16
does not necessarily show that a civil obligation that exists 17
apart from this Act has been satisfied or has not been 18
breached. 19
(3) This section does not limit section 212, 213 or 215.2 20
7 Dictionary 21
The dictionary in schedule 5 defines particular words used in 22
this Act. 23
8 Meaning of health service 24
Health service means-- 25
(a) a service provided to an individual for, or purportedly 26
for, the benefit of human health-- 27
1 Section 195 (Damages entitlement for reprisal)
2 Section 212 (Giving of information protected), 213 (Reports privileged) or 215
(Protecting officials from liability)
s9 16 s 12
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(i) including a service stated in schedule 1, part 1; and 1
(ii) excluding a service stated in schedule 1, part 2; or 2
(b) an administrative process or service related to a health 3
service under paragraph (a). 4
9 Meaning of provider 5
Provider means a person who provides a health service or a 6
registered provider. 7
10 Meaning of user 8
(1) User means an individual who uses or receives a health 9
service. 10
(2) An individual is not a user merely because the individual 11
arranges a health service for another individual. 12
Chapter 2 Establishment, 13
independence, functions 14
and powers of commission 15
11 Establishment of commission 16
(1) The Health Quality and Complaints Commission is 17
established. 18
(2) The commission-- 19
(a) is a body corporate; and 20
(b) has perpetual succession and a common seal; and 21
(c) may sue and be sued in its corporate name. 22
12 Commission's independence 23
In performing its functions the commission must act 24
independently, impartially and in the public interest. 25
s 13 17 s 14
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
13 Commission's functions--health service complaints 1
The commission has the following functions in relation to 2
health service complaints-- 3
(a) receiving, assessing and managing health service 4
complaints; 5
(b) encouraging and helping users and providers to resolve 6
health service complaints; 7
(c) helping providers to develop procedures to effectively 8
resolve health service complaints; 9
(d) conciliating or investigating health service complaints. 10
14 Commission's functions--quality of health services 11
The commission has the following functions in relation to 12
health services-- 13
(a) monitoring and reporting on providers' compliance with 14
section 20(1);3 15
(b) making standards relating to the quality of health 16
services; 17
(c) assessing the quality of health services and processes 18
associated with health services; 19
(d) responding to health quality complaints, including by 20
conducting investigations and inquiries; 21
(e) promoting continuous quality improvement in health 22
services; 23
(f) promoting the effective coordination of reviews of 24
health services carried out by public or other bodies; 25
(g) recommending ways of improving health services; 26
(h) identifying and reviewing issues arising from health 27
complaints; 28
(i) receiving, analysing and disseminating information 29
about the quality of health services. 30
3 Section 20 (Duty of provider)
s 15 18 s 17
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
15 Commission's functions--information 1
The commission has the following functions in relation to the 2
provision of information-- 3
(a) providing information, education and advice to users, 4
providers, the public and others relating to-- 5
(i) health rights and responsibilities; and 6
(ii) procedures for resolving health service complaints; 7
(b) providing information, advice and reports about health 8
complaints to registration boards; 9
(c) providing information to the public about the quality of 10
health services, the commission standards and the 11
commission's functions and powers. 12
16 Commission's other functions 13
The commission's functions also include the following-- 14
(a) suggesting ways of improving health services and of 15
preserving and promoting health rights; 16
(b) investigating or inquiring into matters under this Act; 17
(c) advising and reporting to the Minister on matters 18
relating to health services or the administration of this 19
Act; 20
(d) advertising for and nominating to the Minister persons 21
the commission considers suitable for appointment as 22
members of district health councils; 23
(e) conducting research relating to its functions; 24
(f) performing other functions conferred on the 25
commission under an Act. 26
17 Cooperation with other entities 27
To help the commission in performing its functions it must-- 28
(a) keep effective links with-- 29
(i) providers generally; and 30
s 18 19 s 18
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(ii) organisations that have a demonstrated interest in 1
the provision of health services; and 2
(b) consult and cooperate with any public authority that has 3
a function that is relevant to, or may impact on, a 4
function of the commission, including for example-- 5
(i) the Anti-Discrimination Commission; and 6
(ii) the Commission for Children and Young People 7
and Child Guardian; and 8
(iii) the Crime and Misconduct Commission; and 9
(iv) the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity 10
Commission of the Commonwealth; and 11
(v) the Information Commissioner; and 12
(vi) the ombudsman; and 13
(vii) the Privacy Commissioner of the Commonwealth; 14
and 15
(viii) a registration board; and 16
(ix) the State Coroner. 17
18 Commission's powers 18
(1) The commission has all the powers of an individual and may, 19
for example, do any of the following-- 20
(a) enter into contracts and other arrangements; 21
(b) acquire, hold, dispose of, and deal with, property; 22
(c) appoint agents and attorneys; 23
(d) engage consultants; 24
(e) fix charges and other terms for services and other 25
facilities it supplies; 26
(f) do anything else necessary or convenient to be done in 27
performing its functions. 28
(2) The commission also has the other powers given to it under an 29
Act. 30
s 19 20 s 21
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
19 Commission's procedures informal 1
(1) In performing its functions or exercising its powers, the 2
commission must-- 3
(a) observe natural justice; and 4
(b) act as quickly, and with as little formality and 5
technicality, as practicable. 6
(2) Subsection (1) is subject to the express provisions of this Act. 7
8
Example--
9
Under section 206 the commission is empowered to dispense with a
10
duty to give notice or to give an entity an opportunity to make
11
submissions in circumstances mentioned in the section.
Chapter 3 Quality of health services 12
20 Duty of provider 13
(1) A provider must establish, maintain and implement 14
reasonable processes to improve the quality of health services 15
provided by or for the provider, including processes-- 16
(a) to monitor the quality of the health services; and 17
(b) to protect the health and well being of users of the health 18
services. 19
(2) If a commission standard applying to a provider states a way 20
for complying with subsection (1), the provider complies with 21
the subsection if the provider complies with the standard. 22
(3) Subsection (2) does not limit the way the provider may 23
comply with subsection (1). 24
21 Commission may ask provider for information 25
(1) The commission may ask a provider for reports, records or 26
other information relating to the quality of health services 27
provided by or for the provider. 28
s 22 21 s 23
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) This section does not limit the use of coercive powers under 1
chapter 9, part 3 to obtain information from a provider 2
relating to the quality of health services provided by or for the 3
provider. 4
22 Commission may make standards 5
(1) The commission may make standards about the processes a 6
provider may adopt to comply with section 20(1). 7
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), a standard may relate to any 8
aspect of the quality of health services, including matters 9
relating to-- 10
(a) safety, clinical and cost effectiveness, patient focus, 11
access and responsiveness, public health, facilities and 12
governance; and 13
(b) the review of deaths in hospitals. 14
(3) The commission must maintain a website setting out in an 15
easily understandable way-- 16
(a) each standard made by it and any document applied, 17
adopted or incorporated by the standard; and 18
(b) each standard revoked by it; and 19
(c) the effective date of each standard mentioned in 20
paragraph (a) or (b); and 21
(d) consolidations of amended standards with histories of 22
the amendments. 23
(4) The commission must have a process for reviewing each 24
standard. 25
(5) Before the commission makes or amends a standard it must 26
consult with the persons it considers are likely to be affected 27
by the standard and others it considers appropriate. 28
23 Consideration of provider's compliance with s 20(1) 29
(1) For deciding whether a provider is complying with section 30
20(1),4 the commission may have regard to-- 31
4 Section 20 (Duty of provider)
s 24 22 s 24
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) a commission standard; or 1
(b) whether the provider has been accredited for a relevant 2
purpose by an entity the commission considers is 3
competent to give the accreditation. 4
(2) Subsection (1) does not limit the matters the commission may 5
have regard to. 6
24 Action by commission for contravention of s 20(1) 7
(1) If the commission believes a provider has contravened section 8
20(1) it may do any of the following-- 9
(a) advise the provider of the contravention and recommend 10
ways for the provider to comply with the subsection; 11
(b) prepare a report about the contravention for the purpose 12
of giving it to an entity mentioned in subsection (2); 13
(c) if the commission considers the contravention should be 14
investigated or otherwise dealt with by an entity that has 15
a function or power under another Act or a 16
Commonwealth Act to investigate or otherwise deal 17
with the contravention or a matter related to the 18
contravention--refer it to the entity. 19
(2) The commission may give a report prepared under subsection 20
(1)(b) to all or any of the following-- 21
(a) the provider; 22
(b) an employer of the provider; 23
(c) an entity on whose behalf the provider is providing 24
health services; 25
(d) a registration board; 26
(e) a professional association or other entity of which the 27
provider is, or is eligible to be, a member; 28
(f) the Minister; 29
(g) the chief health officer; 30
(h) the State Coroner; 31
(i) an entity that has a function or power to take action on 32
matters raised in the report. 33
s 25 23 s 27
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
25 Show cause notice 1
(1) The commission must not finalise a report under section 2
24(1)(b) relating to a contravention of section 20(1) by a 3
provider unless the commission first gives the provider a 4
notice (a show cause notice) stating the following-- 5
(a) that the commission believes the provider has 6
contravened, or is contravening, section 20(1); 7
(b) an outline of the facts and circumstances forming the 8
basis for the commission's belief; 9
(c) that the commission is finalising a report about the 10
contravention (the proposed action); 11
(d) an invitation to the provider to show within a stated 12
period (the show cause period) why the proposed action 13
should not be taken. 14
(2) The show cause period must be a period ending at least 14 15
days after the show cause notice is given to the provider. 16
26 Representations about show cause notice 17
(1) The provider may make written representations about the 18
show cause notice to the commission in the show cause 19
period. 20
(2) The commission must consider all written representations (the 21
accepted representations) made under subsection (1). 22
27 Ending show cause process without further action 23
If, after considering the accepted representations for the show 24
cause notice, the commission no longer believes the provider 25
contravened section 20(1), the commission-- 26
(a) must not take further action about the show cause 27
notice; and 28
(b) must, as soon as practicable, give notice to the provider 29
that no further action is to be taken about the show cause 30
notice. 31
s 28 24 s 30
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
28 Finalising report under s 24(1)(b) 1
(1) This section applies if, after considering the accepted 2
representations for the show cause notice, the commission -- 3
(a) still believes the provider contravened section 20(1); and 4
(b) believes the proposed action is warranted. 5
(2) This section also applies if there are no accepted 6
representations for the show cause notice. 7
(3) The commission may finalise a report under section 24(1)(b) 8
about the contravention. 9
(4) Subject to section 205,5 the report may contain information, 10
comment, opinion and recommendations for action the 11
commission considers appropriate. 12
29 Finalising report under s 24(1)(b) without giving show 13
cause notice 14
Despite section 25, the commission may finalise a report 15
under section 24(1)(b) about a contravention of section 20(1) 16
by a provider without first giving the provider a show cause 17
notice if the commission believes-- 18
(a) the provider poses a serious potential risk to the life, or 19
the physical or psychological health, safety or welfare, 20
of users of the provider's services or another person, 21
including the provider; and 22
(b) finalising the report and acting under section 24(2) may 23
protect the users or person. 24
30 When Minister must table report 25
(1) This section applies if the Minister is given a report under 26
section 24(2) and, when giving the report, the commission 27
asks the Minister to table it in the Legislative Assembly. 28
(2) The Minister must table the report in the Legislative 29
Assembly within 14 days of receiving it. 30
5 Section 205 (Response to adverse comments in commission report)
s 31 25 s 33
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 4 Development of Code of 1
Health Rights and 2
Responsibilities 3
31 Code of Health Rights and Responsibilities 4
(1) Within 2 years after the commencement of section 11,6 the 5
commission must develop a Code of Health Rights and 6
Responsibilities (the code) for the consideration of the 7
Minister. 8
(2) The commission must report to the Minister on the progress of 9
the development of the code no later than 1 year after that 10
commencement. 11
32 Consultation on code 12
In developing the code, the commission must-- 13
(a) consult with the consumer advisory committee and the 14
clinical advisory committee established under section 15
169(1)(a); and 16
(b) invite submissions from and consult with interested 17
individuals and other interested entities to ensure a wide 18
range of views is available in the development of the 19
code. 20
33 Content of code 21
(1) In developing the code the commission must consider and 22
make recommendations to the Minister about its content and 23
application. 24
(2) In developing the content of the code, the commission-- 25
(a) may have regard to all matters relevant to the provision 26
and use of health services; and 27
(b) must have regard to the principles mentioned in section 28
34. 29
6 Section 11 (Establishment of commission)
s 34 26 s 35
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
34 Principles relating to content of code 1
The principles the commission must have regard to in 2
developing the content of the code are the following-- 3
(a) an individual is entitled to take part effectively in 4
decisions about the individual's health; 5
(b) an individual is entitled to take an active role in the 6
individual's health care; 7
(c) an individual is entitled to be provided with health 8
services in a considerate way that takes into account the 9
individual's background, needs and wishes; 10
(d) an individual who provides-- 11
(i) a health service; or 12
(ii) care for another individual receiving a health 13
service; 14
is entitled to consideration and recognition for the 15
contribution the individual makes to health care; 16
(e) the confidentiality of information about an individual's 17
health should be preserved; 18
(f) an individual is entitled to reasonable access to records 19
about the individual's health; 20
(g) an individual is entitled to reasonable access to 21
procedures for the redress of grievances relating to the 22
provision of health services. 23
Chapter 5 Health complaints 24
Part 1 Interpretation 25
35 Types of health complaints 26
There are 2 types of health complaints namely-- 27
s 36 27 s 37
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
· health quality complaints; and 1
· health service complaints. 2
36 Meaning of health quality complaint 3
(1) A health quality complaint is a complaint about any of the 4
following-- 5
(a) the quality of a health service; 6
(b) a contravention of section 20(1);7 7
(c) matters relating to the provision of more than 1 health 8
service. 9
(2) A health quality complaint may be about the provision of a 10
health service to 1 or more users. 11
37 Meaning of health service complaint 12
(1) A health service complaint is a complaint-- 13
(a) that a provider acted unreasonably by not providing a 14
health service for a user; or 15
(b) that a provider acted unreasonably in the way of 16
providing a health service for a user; or 17
(c) that a provider acted unreasonably in providing a health 18
service for a user; or 19
(d) that a provider acted unreasonably by denying or 20
restricting a user's access to records relating to the user 21
in the provider's possession; or 22
(e) that a provider acted unreasonably in disclosing 23
information relating to a user; or 24
(f) that a registered provider acted in a way that would 25
provide a ground for disciplinary action against the 26
provider under the Health Practitioners (Professional 27
Standards) Act 1999 or the Nursing Act 1992; or 28
(g) that a public or private entity that provides a health 29
service acted unreasonably by-- 30
7 Section 20 (Duty of provider)
s 38 28 s 38
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(i) not properly investigating; or 1
(ii) not taking proper action in relation to; 2
a complaint made to the entity by a user about a 3
provider's action of a kind mentioned in paragraphs (a) 4
to (f). 5
(2) In deciding whether a provider has acted unreasonably as 6
mentioned in subsection (1)(a) to (e) or (g), the commission 7
must consider-- 8
(a) the principles mentioned in section 34;8 and 9
(b) any relevant commission standard; and 10
(c) the generally accepted standards of health services 11
expected of providers of that kind; and 12
(d) anything else the commission considers relevant. 13
Part 2 Making health complaints 14
Division 1 Who may make health quality 15
complaints 16
38 Who may complain 17
Anyone may make a health quality complaint to the 18
commission. 19
20
Note--
21
Division 3 states the process for making a health quality complaint.
8 Section 34 (Principles relating to content of code)
s 39 29 s 41
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
39 Health quality complaint about matter happening before 1
commencement 2
A health quality complaint may be about a matter that 3
happened before the commencement of section 11.9 4
Division 2 Who may make health service 5
complaints 6
40 Who may complain 7
(1) A health service complaint may be made to the commission 8
by-- 9
(a) the user; or 10
(b) a person who, under section 41, may make a complaint 11
on the user's behalf; or 12
(c) the Minister; or 13
(d) if the commission considers that the public interest 14
requires that another person should be permitted to 15
make a health service complaint--that person. 16
(2) The Minister may make a health service complaint despite a 17
previous health service complaint having been made in 18
relation to the same matter by another person. 19
20
Note--
21
Division 3 states the process for making a health service complaint.
41 Representative health service complaint 22
(1) A health service complaint may only be made to the 23
commission by a person acting on behalf of the user if the 24
commission is satisfied that it would be difficult or impossible 25
for the user to make the complaint personally. 26
27
Example--
28
If the user is a child, the commission may be satisfied that it would be
29
difficult for the child to make the complaint personally having regard to
30
the child's age or ability to understand.
9 Section 11 (Establishment of commission)
s 42 30 s 42
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) The person making the health service complaint on behalf of 1
the user must be-- 2
(a) a person that the commission is satisfied has been 3
chosen by the user; or 4
(b) if the commission is satisfied that it would be difficult or 5
impossible for the user to choose anybody to make a 6
complaint in the user's place--a person the commission 7
is satisfied has a sufficient interest. 8
(3) However, any of the following may make a health service 9
complaint on behalf of a user who has impaired capacity for a 10
matter within the meaning of the Guardianship and 11
Administration Act 2000-- 12
(a) an attorney for the user under an enduring power of 13
attorney, or advance health directive, under the Powers 14
of Attorney Act 1998; 15
(b) a statutory health attorney under the Powers of Attorney 16
Act 1998; 17
(c) a guardian for the user under the Guardianship and 18
Administration Act 2000; 19
(d) the adult guardian under the Guardianship and 20
Administration Act 2000. 21
(4) Also, a health service complaint may be made by a person on 22
behalf of a user, after the user's death, if the commission is 23
satisfied the person has a sufficient interest. 24
42 Health service complaint about matter happening before 25
commencement 26
A health service complaint may be about a matter that 27
happened before the commencement of section 11.10 28
Note-- 29
30
Section 63(3) states the circumstances in which the commission must
31
decide not to take action on a health service complaint if the matter of
32
complaint arose more than 1 year before the complaint was made to the
33
commission.
10 Section 11 (Establishment of commission)
s 43 31 s 44
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
43 Substitution of complainant 1
(1) A person may be substituted as the complainant for a health 2
service complaint if-- 3
(a) the-- 4
(i) commission is satisfied it would be difficult or 5
impossible for the original complainant to continue 6
as complainant; or 7
(ii) the original complainant dies; and 8
(b) the commission is satisfied the person has a sufficient 9
interest. 10
(2) Also, a person mentioned in section 41(3)(a) to (d) may be 11
substituted as the complainant for a health service complaint 12
if the original complainant has impaired capacity for a matter 13
within the meaning of the Guardianship and Administration 14
Act 2000. 15
44 Health service complaints about persons who are no 16
longer registered providers 17
(1) This section applies if-- 18
(a) the commission receives a health service complaint 19
about a person who was a registered provider; and 20
(b) the complaint relates to the conduct or practice of the 21
person as a registered provider; and 22
(c) the person is no longer a registered provider. 23
(2) The commission must deal with the complaint as if the 24
complaint were a health service complaint about a registered 25
provider. 26
(3) This Act applies, with any necessary changes, to the person 27
about whom the complaint was made as if a reference to a 28
registered provider included the person. 29
s 45 32 s 47
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Division 3 Process for making health 1
complaints 2
45 How to make a health complaint 3
A person may make a health complaint to the commission-- 4
(a) orally, either in person or by any form of distance 5
communication; or 6
(b) in writing given to the commission. 7
46 Oral complaints to be confirmed in writing 8
(1) If a person makes a health complaint orally, the commission 9
must require the person to confirm the complaint in writing 10
unless the commission is satisfied there is good reason not to. 11
(2) The commission must fix a reasonable time within which the 12
health complaint must be confirmed in writing and tell the 13
person the time. 14
47 Complainant to reveal identity 15
(1) A complainant must tell the commission-- 16
(a) the complainant's name and address; and 17
(b) other information relating to the complainant's identity 18
that the commission reasonably requires. 19
(2) The commission may keep information provided by a 20
complainant under subsection (1) confidential if-- 21
(a) there are special circumstances; and 22
(b) the commission considers it is in the complainant's 23
interests to do so. 24
(3) Despite subsection (1), the commission may accept an 25
anonymous health complaint in the public interest. 26
s 48 33 s 50
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
48 Further information from complainant 1
The commission may ask a complainant to provide more 2
information about the health complaint within a reasonable 3
time fixed by the commission. 4
49 Commission may require oath or statutory declaration 5
The commission may at any time require a health complaint 6
or information provided by a complainant to be verified by the 7
complainant by oath or statutory declaration. 8
Part 3 Dealing with health quality 9
complaints 10
50 How commission must deal with a health quality 11
complaint 12
(1) The commission must deal with a health quality complaint in 13
a way that is consistent with protecting the public and 14
improving the quality of health services. 15
(2) In dealing with a health quality complaint, the commission 16
may do any or all of the following-- 17
(a) seek information from a provider, user, the complainant 18
or anyone else; 19
(b) if the complaint is about a registered provider and the 20
commission considers the provider may have acted in a 21
way that would provide a ground for disciplinary action 22
against the provider under the Health Practitioners 23
(Professional Standards) Act 1999 or the Nursing Act 24
1992--refer it to the provider's registration board; 25
(c) refer the complaint to another entity that the 26
commission considers is able to investigate or take other 27
appropriate action about the complaint; 28
(d) investigate the complaint under chapter 7; 29
(e) inquire into the complaint under chapter 8. 30
s 51 34 s 52
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) However, the commission may decide not to take action about 1
a health quality complaint if it considers no action is 2
warranted. 3
51 Dealing with quality matter as health service complaint 4
(1) This section applies if the commission considers a matter 5
raised by a health quality complaint, or raised in the course of 6
the commission dealing with the complaint, could be dealt 7
with as a health service complaint. 8
(2) The commission may decide to deal with the matter as a 9
health service complaint. 10
(3) If the commission decides to deal with the matter as a health 11
service complaint, the matter is taken to be a health service 12
complaint made to the commission by the complainant under 13
part 2, division 2 and the provisions of this Act applying to 14
health service complaints apply. 15
Part 4 Dealing with health service 16
complaints 17
Division 1 Early resolution of health service 18
complaints 19
52 Early resolution 20
(1) This section applies if the commission considers there is a 21
reasonable likelihood that it may be able to facilitate the early 22
resolution of a health service complaint and the complainant 23
agrees to the commission acting under this section. 24
(2) The commission may, instead of immediately assessing the 25
health service complaint under section 53, take the action it 26
considers reasonable to facilitate the resolution of the 27
complaint. 28
s 53 35 s 53
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
1
Example of action the commission may take--
2
The commission may arrange mediation between the complainant and
3
the provider concerned.
(3) This section is subject to section 66.11 4
Division 2 Assessment of health service 5
complaints 6
53 Commission to immediately assess each health service 7
complaint 8
(1) The commission must immediately assess a health service 9
complaint. 10
(2) However, the commission must not start the assessment 11
until-- 12
(a) the commission is satisfied the complainant is eligible to 13
make the health service complaint; and 14
(b) if the complaint is made orally--the complainant 15
confirms the complaint in writing or the commission is 16
satisfied there is good reason that the complaint need not 17
be confirmed in writing; and 18
(c) the complainant gives the commission the information 19
required under section 47(1)12 or the commission 20
decides to accept the complaint under section 47(3); and 21
(d) if the commission asks for further information about the 22
complaint under section 48 or requires the complaint or 23
further information to be verified by oath or statutory 24
declaration under section 4913--the complainant 25
complies with the request or requirement. 26
(3) If the commission attempts to resolve a health service 27
complaint under section 52, it-- 28
11 Section 66 (Referral to registration board in public interest)
12 Section 47 (Complainant to reveal identity)
13 Sections 48 (Further information from complainant) and 49 (Commission may
require oath or statutory declaration)
s 54 36 s 55
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) is not required to start the assessment of the complaint 1
until the earlier of the following happens-- 2
(i) it is satisfied the complaint is not able to be 3
resolved under section 52; or 4
(ii) the complaint remains unresolved 30 days after its 5
receipt by the commission; and 6
(b) if the complaint is resolved under that section, must not 7
assess the complaint. 8
(4) Also, subsection (1) is subject to section 66.14 9
54 Notice of decision to assess health service complaint 10
(1) As soon as practicable and within 14 days after starting the 11
assessment of a health service complaint, the commission 12
must give notice that the complaint is being assessed to-- 13
(a) the complainant; and 14
(b) the provider to whom the complaint relates; and 15
(c) if the provider is a registered provider--the registered 16
provider's registration board. 17
(2) The notice to the provider must state the nature of the health 18
service complaint. 19
(3) The notice to the registration board must be accompanied by a 20
copy of the health service complaint. 21
(4) This section is subject to section 206.15 22
55 Submissions about health service complaint 23
(1) In assessing a health service complaint, the commission may 24
by notice given to the complainant or provider invite 25
submissions about the complaint. 26
(2) The notice must state the day, not less than 14 days after 27
receipt of the notice, by which the submissions must be given 28
to the commission. 29
14 Section 66 (Referral to registration board in public interest)
15 Section 206 (Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make submissions)
s 56 37 s 57
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) If a submission is made within the time stated in the notice, 1
the commission must consider the submission in assessing the 2
health service complaint. 3
56 Power to require information 4
(1) For assessing a health service complaint, the commission 5
may, by notice given to a person, require the person to give 6
stated information to the commission within a stated 7
reasonable time and in a stated reasonable way. 8
(2) A person required to give information under subsection (1) 9
must give the information as required by the notice, unless the 10
person has a reasonable excuse. 11
Maximum penalty--50 penalty units. 12
(3) It is a reasonable excuse for an individual not to give 13
information that giving the information might tend to 14
incriminate the individual. 15
57 Consultation with registration board 16
(1) If a health service complaint is about a registered provider, the 17
commission must consult with the provider's registration 18
board before making a decision under section 59(1) about the 19
complaint. 20
(2) The registered provider's registration board must give the 21
commission the board's comments, if any, about the health 22
service complaint-- 23
(a) as soon as practicable and within 14 days of the 24
commission consulting with the board; or 25
(b) within a longer period agreed to by the commission. 26
(3) The commission must not make a decision under section 27
59(1) about the health service complaint until the first of the 28
following happens-- 29
(a) the commission receives the registration board's 30
comments about the complaint; 31
(b) the registration board advises the commission that the 32
board does not intend to give the commission comments 33
about the complaint; 34
s 58 38 s 58
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(c) the period mentioned in subsection (2) for the 1
registration board to provide comments has ended. 2
(4) In making a decision about the action to be taken in relation to 3
the health service complaint, the commission must consider 4
any comments made by the registration board within the time 5
mentioned in subsection (2). 6
(5) If the registered provider's registration board advises the 7
commission, within the time mentioned in subsection (2), that 8
it considers the health service complaint warrants action by 9
the board, the commission must not decide not to take action 10
on the complaint. 11
58 Time limit on assessment 12
(1) The commission must assess a health service complaint 13
within-- 14
(a) 60 days of starting the assessment; or 15
(b) a further period decided by the commission under 16
subsection (3). 17
(2) However, if the commission is required to consult with a 18
registration board about the health service complaint under 19
section 57(1), the period within which it must assess the 20
complaint is extended by a period equal to the period during 21
which it must not make a decision about the complaint under 22
section 57(3). 23
(3) For subsection (1)(b), the commission may decide to extend 24
the period for assessing a health service complaint, by a 25
period of not more than 30 days, if it considers-- 26
(a) the complaint is too complex to allow the commission to 27
assess the complaint within 60 days of starting the 28
assessment; or 29
(b) the complaint can be satisfactorily resolved other than 30
under chapter 6 or 7;16 or 31
(c) information the commission has requested from the 32
user, provider or another person can not be reasonably 33
16 Chapter 6 (Conciliation) or 7 (Investigations by commission)
s 59 39 s 60
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
provided within the time allowed under subsection 1
(1)(a), but may be provided within the extended period. 2
59 Decision on assessment of health service complaint 3
(1) On assessing a health service complaint, the commission must 4
decide-- 5
(a) to accept the complaint for action; or 6
(b) not to take action on the complaint under division 4. 17
7
(2) Before deciding to accept a health service complaint for 8
action, the commission must be satisfied-- 9
(a) that all reasonable steps have been taken by the 10
complainant to resolve the complaint with the provider; 11
or 12
(b) that a reasonable opportunity has been given to the 13
complainant to resolve the complaint with the provider; 14
or 15
(c) that it is not practicable or reasonable for steps 16
mentioned in paragraph (a) to be taken or for the 17
opportunity mentioned in paragraph (b) to be given. 18
60 Notice of assessment decision 19
(1) Subject to section 206,18 the commission must give notice of 20
the commission's decision on assessing a health service 21
complaint to the complainant and the provider as soon as 22
practicable after making the decision. 23
(2) If the decision is to take action on the health service 24
complaint, the notice must state the action the commission has 25
decided to take under section 61. 26
(3) If the decision is not to take action on the health service 27
complaint, the notice given to the complainant must state the 28
reasons for the decision. 29
17 Division 4 (Decisions not to take action on health service complaints)
18 Section 206 (Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make submissions)
s 61 40 s 62
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Division 3 Action on acceptance of health 1
service complaints 2
61 Action on acceptance of complaint about provider 3
(1) This section applies if the commission decides to accept a 4
health service complaint about a provider for action. 5
(2) The commission may do any or all of the following-- 6
(a) conciliate the health service complaint under chapter 6; 7
(b) investigate the health service complaint under chapter 7; 8
(c) if the health service complaint is about a registered 9
provider--refer the complaint to the registered 10
provider's registration board; 11
(d) refer the complaint to another entity that the 12
commission considers is able to investigate or take other 13
appropriate action about the complaint. 14
(3) Subject to subsection (4) and section 62, the commission must 15
try to resolve the health service complaint by conciliation if 16
the commission considers it can be resolved in that way. 17
(4) In deciding whether to conciliate the health service complaint, 18
the commission must take into account the public interest. 19
62 Matters about conciliation 20
(1) If in relation to a registered provider the commission acts 21
under section 61(2)(c), it must not act under section 61(2)(a) 22
until the commission receives the registration board's 23
completion notice for the health service complaint. 24
(2) Despite subsection (1), the commission may start the 25
conciliation of the health service complaint before receiving 26
the completion notice if-- 27
(a) the provider has agreed to conciliation for the sole 28
purpose of arranging a financial settlement or other 29
compensation with the user; and 30
(b) the commission and the registration board agree that the 31
conciliation will not compromise or interfere with the 32
board's action in relation to the complaint. 33
s 63 41 s 63
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) If the commission refers the health service complaint to the 1
registered provider's registration board under section 2
61(2)(c), it must, at the same time, tell the board if it intends 3
to conciliate the complaint, or a complaint from which it was 4
separated under section 67,19 after the board finishes dealing 5
with it. 6
Division 4 Decisions not to take action on 7
health service complaints 8
63 When commission must decide not to take action 9
(1) The commission must decide not to take action on a health 10
service complaint if-- 11
(a) the commission considers that the complaint-- 12
(i) is frivolous, vexatious or trivial; or 13
(ii) is misconceived or lacking in substance; or 14
(iii) has been adequately dealt with by the commission 15
or another public authority; or 16
(b) the commission considers that the complainant has 17
failed, without reasonable excuse, to satisfactorily 18
cooperate with attempts made or arranged by the 19
commission to resolve the complaint with the provider. 20
(2) If an issue raised in a health service complaint has already 21
been decided by an appropriate tribunal, the commission must 22
decide not to take action on the complaint to the extent that it 23
attempts to reopen the issue. 24
(3) The commission must decide not to take action on a health 25
service complaint if-- 26
(a) the matter of complaint arose more than 1 year before 27
the complaint was made to the commission; and 28
(b) the person who made the complaint was aware of the 29
matter of complaint more than 1 year before making the 30
complaint to the commission. 31
19 Section 67 (Commission may deal with complaint as 2 or more complaints)
s 64 42 s 64
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(4) However, subsection (3) does not apply to a health service 1
complaint about a matter that the commission reasonably 2
believes may warrant the suspension or cancellation of a 3
registered provider's registration, enrolment or authorisation. 4
(5) In this section-- 5
appropriate tribunal, in relation to an issue, means-- 6
(a) a court; or 7
(b) an industrial tribunal; or 8
(c) a disciplinary body; or 9
(d) another tribunal authorised to decide the issue. 10
64 When commission may decide not to take action 11
The commission may decide not to take action on a health 12
service complaint if-- 13
(a) the complainant fails to comply with a request by the 14
commission-- 15
(i) to confirm the complaint in writing; or 16
(ii) to give the commission more information 17
concerning the person's identity; or 18
(iii) to give more information to the commission within 19
the time fixed by the commission under section 48; 20
or 21
(iv) to verify the complaint or any information by oath 22
or statutory declaration under section 49;20 or 23
(b) the complaint has been resolved since it was made; or 24
(c) the user has commenced a civil proceeding seeking 25
redress for the matter of the complaint and a court-- 26
(i) has begun to hear the matter; or 27
(ii) has, under the Uniform Civil Procedure Rules 28
1999, referred the matter, or directed the registrar 29
of the court to give written notice to the parties that 30
20 Sections 48 (Further information from complainant) and 49 (Commission may
require oath or statutory declaration)
s 65 43 s 66
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
the matter is to be referred by order, to an ADR 1
process. 2
65 Withdrawal of complaint 3
(1) This section applies if a complainant withdraws a health 4
service complaint. 5
(2) The commission may decide not to take any further action 6
about the complaint. 7
(3) However, the withdrawal does not prevent the commission 8
from doing or continuing to do any of the following-- 9
(a) assessing the complaint; 10
(b) referring the complaint to another entity; 11
(c) investigating the complaint; 12
(d) conducting an inquiry relating to the complaint. 13
Division 5 When commission must refer health 14
service complaints to registration 15
boards 16
66 Referral to registration board in public interest 17
(1) This section applies if the commission-- 18
(a) receives a health service complaint about a registered 19
provider; and 20
(b) considers, on receipt of the complaint or at any time 21
after receipt, it may be in the public interest to refer the 22
complaint to the registered provider's registration board 23
immediately; and 24
(c) consults the registration board about the referral. 25
(2) If the commission considers it is in the public interest to 26
immediately refer the health service complaint to the 27
registered provider's registration board, it must do so. 28
(3) When referring the health service complaint, the commission 29
must tell the registration board if it intends to conciliate the 30
s 67 44 s 67
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
complaint, or a complaint from which it was separated under 1
section 67, after the board has finished dealing with it. 2
(4) The commission must not start a conciliation of the health 3
service complaint until the registration board gives the 4
commission a completion notice for the complaint. 5
(5) Subject to section 206,21 the commission must, as soon as 6
practicable and within 14 days of referring the health service 7
complaint to the registration board, give notice of the referral 8
to the registered provider and complainant. 9
Division 6 Other matters 10
67 Commission may deal with complaint as 2 or more 11
complaints 12
(1) This section applies if-- 13
(a) a health service complaint is about more than 1 14
provider; or 15
16
Example--
17
The health service complaint by a person is about the treatment
18
received for the person's broken leg from the person's local
19
medical practitioner and also a specialist medical practitioner at
20
a public hospital.
(b) a health service complaint contains more than 1 21
allegation about the same provider; or 22
23
Example--
24
The health service complaint by a person is that in the course of
25
an examination a physiotherapist touched the person
26
inappropriately and failed to diagnose the person's condition
27
correctly.
(c) a health service complaint is about more than 1 health 28
service event involving the same provider; or 29
30
Example--
31
The health service complaint by a person is that a week after
32
attending a dentist in March for a filling, the filling fell out and 3
21 Section 206 (Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make submissions)
s 68 45 s 68
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
1
weeks after visiting the same dentist in July the same year for a
2
check-up, urgent dental work was required to remove another
3
tooth that was in a state of advanced decay and was not
4
identified.
(d) a health service complaint is a complaint that the 5
commission otherwise reasonably believes should be 6
dealt with as 2 or more complaints. 7
(2) The commission may decide to deal with the health service 8
complaint as if it were 2 or more complaints, including, for 9
example, by dealing with it as-- 10
(a) separate complaints about more than 1 provider; or 11
(b) if the complaint contains more than 1 allegation about 12
the same provider, a separate complaint for each 13
allegation; or 14
(c) separate complaints about more than 1 health service 15
event. 16
(3) If the commission decides to deal with a health service 17
complaint as if it were 2 or more separate complaints, the 18
commission must deal with each separate complaint as if it 19
had been made as a health service complaint under part 2, 20
division 2. 21
(4) In this section-- 22
health service event means each occasion when a health 23
service is provided. 24
68 Registration board may delegate function under s 57 25
(1) A registration board may delegate a function of the board 26
under section 5722 to-- 27
(a) a board member; or 28
(b) a committee of the board; or 29
(c) for a registration board other than the Queensland 30
Nursing Council-- 31
22 Section 57 (Consultation with registration board)
s 69 46 s 70
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(i) the executive officer of the Office of Health 1
Practitioner Registration Boards appointed under 2
the Health Practitioner Registration Boards 3
(Administration) Act 1999; or 4
(ii) with the executive officer's agreement--another 5
member of the staff of the Office of Health 6
Practitioner Registration Boards; or 7
(d) for the Queensland Nursing Council--the executive 8
officer appointed under the Nursing Act 1992. 9
(2) In this section-- 10
function includes a power. 11
69 Reports by certain entities 12
(1) This section applies if the commission refers a health service 13
complaint to an entity of the State under section 61(2)(d).23 14
(2) The entity-- 15
(a) may, on its own initiative or if asked by the commission, 16
provide the commission with reports about the progress 17
and results of the action taken by the entity about the 18
complaint; and 19
(b) must, as soon as practicable and within 28 days after 20
ceasing to deal with the complaint, give the commission 21
a written report of the results of the action taken by the 22
entity about the complaint. 23
70 Use of health service complaint information for quality 24
functions 25
(1) This section applies to information obtained by the 26
commission in relation to a health service complaint other 27
than information gained during conciliation. 28
(2) The commission may also use the information for performing 29
its functions under section 14.24 30
23 Section 61 (Action on acceptance of complaint about provider)
24 Section 14 (Commission's functions--quality of health services)
s 71 47 s 73
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
71 General powers to gather information and facilitate 1
resolution of complaints 2
(1) The commission may, at any time, in relation to any health 3
service complaint-- 4
(a) seek and obtain the information the commission 5
considers appropriate; and 6
(b) attempt, in whatever lawful way the commission 7
considers appropriate, to resolve the complaint, 8
including, for example, by asking any person the 9
commission considers may assist in the resolution of the 10
complaint to provide assistance. 11
(2) Subsection (1)(b) is not limited by section 52.25 12
Chapter 6 Conciliation 13
72 Conciliator's function exclusive 14
Only a conciliator may perform the function of conciliation 15
under this chapter. 16
17
Note--
18
A conciliator is a commission officer to whom the function of
19
conciliation has been delegated under section 166.
73 Commission officer not to conciliate and investigate 20
same health service complaint 21
A commission officer must not be involved in both the 22
conciliation and investigation of the same health service 23
complaint. 24
25 Section 52 (Early resolution)
s 74 48 s 76
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
74 Conciliation function 1
(1) The conciliation of a health service complaint must be 2
performed by 1 or more conciliators assigned by the 3
commission. 4
(2) A conciliator's function is to encourage the settlement of the 5
health service complaint by-- 6
(a) arranging negotiations between the provider and the 7
complainant in question; and 8
(b) assisting in the conduct of the negotiations; and 9
(c) assisting the provider and the complainant to reach 10
agreement; and 11
(d) assisting in the resolution of the complaint in any other 12
way. 13
75 Public interest 14
(1) Before the conciliation of a health service complaint starts, 15
the commission must identify and inform the conciliator of 16
any issue raised by the complaint that the commission 17
considers involves the public interest. 18
(2) At the start of the conciliation, the conciliator must draw those 19
issues to the attention of the parties and explain to them the 20
effect of subsections (3) to (5) and section 76(1). 21
(3) In the course of the conciliation, the conciliator must draw to 22
the attention of the parties any other issues raised by the 23
health service complaint that the conciliator considers involve 24
the public interest. 25
(4) The conciliator must act under subsection (3) at times the 26
conciliator considers appropriate. 27
(5) The conciliator must report to the commission any issue 28
mentioned in subsection (3). 29
76 Action by commission on becoming aware of public 30
interest issue 31
(1) On receiving a report under section 75(5) relating to a health 32
service complaint, or otherwise becoming aware of an issue 33
s 76 49 s 76
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
involving the public interest relating to the complaint, the 1
commission may do any or all of the following-- 2
(a) if the complaint is about a registered provider--refer it 3
to the registered provider's registration board; 4
(b) refer the complaint to another entity that the 5
commission considers is able to investigate or take other 6
appropriate action about the complaint; 7
(c) investigate the complaint under chapter 7. 8
(2) The commission must not refer the health service complaint to 9
a registration board or another entity without first consulting 10
the board or other entity. 11
(3) If the commission refers the health service complaint to a 12
registration board or other entity, the commission must, at the 13
time of the referral, tell the board or entity if the commission 14
intends to investigate the complaint or continue to conciliate 15
the complaint after the board or entity has finished dealing 16
with it. 17
(4) The commission must not continue the conciliation of the 18
health service complaint until the registration board or other 19
entity gives the commission a completion notice for the 20
complaint. 21
(5) However, the commission may continue the conciliation of 22
the health service complaint before receiving the completion 23
notice if-- 24
(a) the provider has agreed to conciliation for the sole 25
purpose of arranging a financial settlement or other 26
compensation with the user; and 27
(b) the commission and the registration board or other entity 28
to which the complaint has been referred agree that the 29
conciliation will not compromise or interfere with the 30
board's or entity's actions in relation to the complaint. 31
(6) Subject to section 206,26 the commission must, as soon as 32
practicable and within 14 days of referring the health service 33
complaint to a registration board or other entity, give notice of 34
the referral to the provider and complainant. 35
26 Section 206 (Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make submissions)
s 77 50 s 80
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
77 Progress reports from conciliator 1
(1) The commission may ask a conciliator for a written progress 2
report about a conciliation during the conciliation. 3
(2) The conciliator must comply with the request. 4
78 Results report from conciliator 5
(1) At the conclusion of the conciliation of a health service 6
complaint, the conciliator must give a written report of the 7
results of the conciliation to the commission. 8
(2) If agreement is reached, the report must include details of the 9
agreement. 10
(3) If agreement is not reached, the report may-- 11
(a) recommend the action the commission should take 12
under section 80(1); or 13
(b) make no recommendation. 14
(4) The conciliator must give a copy of the report to the provider 15
and the complainant. 16
(5) If practicable, the copies must be given to the provider and 17
complainant on the same day as the report is given to the 18
commission. 19
79 Enforceable agreement 20
(1) Parties reaching agreement in the conciliation of a health 21
service complaint may enter into a contract in settlement of 22
the complaint. 23
(2) The conciliator of the health service complaint must not be a 24
party to, or attest to, the contract. 25
80 Action on report of unsuccessful conciliation 26
(1) On receiving a report under section 78 that agreement was not 27
reached in the conciliation of a health service complaint, the 28
commission may-- 29
(a) take action on the complaint by doing any or all of the 30
following-- 31
s 81 51 s 81
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(i) if the complaint is about a registered 1
provider--refer it to the registered provider's 2
registration board; 3
(ii) refer the complaint to another entity that the 4
commission considers is able to investigate or take 5
other appropriate action about the complaint; 6
(iii) investigate the complaint under chapter 7; or 7
(b) decide under section 63 or 64 not to take action on the
27
8
complaint; or 9
(c) further conciliate the complaint. 10
(2) The commission must not refer the health service complaint to 11
a registration board or another entity without first consulting 12
the registration board or other entity. 13
(3) If the commission refers the health service complaint to a 14
registration board or other entity, the commission must, at the 15
time of the referral, tell the board or entity if the commission 16
intends to investigate the complaint after the board or entity 17
has finished dealing with it. 18
(4) Subject to section 206,28 the commission must, as soon as 19
practicable and within 14 days of referring the health service 20
complaint to a registration board or other entity, give notice of 21
the referral to the provider and complainant. 22
81 Ending conciliation by commission 23
(1) The commission may end the conciliation of a health service 24
complaint if the commission considers that the complaint can 25
not be resolved in that way. 26
(2) The commission must end the conciliation of a health service 27
complaint if the Minister directs the commission under 28
section 164(1)(c)29 to investigate the complaint or under 29
27 Section 63 (When commission must decide not to take action) or 64 (When
commission may decide not to take action)
28 Section 206 (Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make submissions)
29 Section 164 (Other directions by Minister)
s 82 52 s 82
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
section 16330 to conduct an inquiry in relation to the 1
complaint. 2
(3) If the commission ends the conciliation of a health service 3
complaint, it may-- 4
(a) take action on the complaint by doing any or all of the 5
following-- 6
(i) if the complaint is about a registered 7
provider--refer it to the registered provider's 8
registration board; 9
(ii) refer the complaint to another entity that the 10
commission considers is able to investigate or take 11
other appropriate action about the complaint; 12
(iii) investigate the complaint under chapter 7; or 13
(b) decide under section 63 or 64 not to take action on the
31
14
complaint. 15
(4) The commission must not refer the health service complaint to 16
a registration board or another entity without first consulting 17
the registration board or other entity. 18
(5) If the commission refers the health service complaint to a 19
registration board or other entity, the commission must, at the 20
same time, tell the board or entity if the commission intends to 21
investigate the complaint after the board or entity has finished 22
dealing with it. 23
(6) Subject to section 206,32 the commission must, as soon as 24
practicable and within 14 days of referring the health service 25
complaint to a registration board or other entity, give notice of 26
the referral to the provider and complainant. 27
82 Conciliation privileged 28
(1) This section applies to-- 29
30 Section 163 (Minister may direct inquiry)
31 Section 63 (When commission must decide not to take action) or 64 (When
commission may decide not to take action)
32 Section 206 (Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make submissions)
s 83 53 s 83
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) anything said or admitted during a conciliation (the 1
information); or 2
(b) a document, or a copy of a document, prepared for, or in 3
the course of, a conciliation. 4
(2) The information, document or copy-- 5
(a) is not admissible as evidence in a proceeding before a 6
court, tribunal or disciplinary body; and 7
(b) can not be used by the commission as a ground for an 8
investigation or inquiry or as evidence in an 9
investigation or inquiry. 10
(3) For example, anything said or admitted during a conciliation 11
of a health service complaint can not be admitted in a 12
proceeding to enforce a contract mentioned in section 79. 13
(4) Subsection (2) does not apply to-- 14
(a) the information, if the parties to the conciliation and all 15
persons named in the information consent to its 16
admission; or 17
(b) the document or copy, if the person who prepared the 18
document, and all persons named in the document, 19
consent to its admission. 20
83 Confidentiality of conciliation 21
(1) A conciliator must not disclose information gained during 22
conciliation-- 23
(a) in any further conciliation; or 24
(b) to the commission, a commission member, a 25
commission officer or a person engaged by the 26
commission; 27
unless the disclosure is authorised under this chapter. 28
Maximum penalty--40 penalty units. 29
(2) Subsection (1)(b) does not apply to the discussion by a 30
conciliator of matters arising in relation to the performance of 31
the conciliator's functions with a commission member or a 32
commission officer. 33
s 84 54 s 85
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
84 Professional mentor 1
(1) The commission must ensure, to the extent practicable, that 2
each conciliator is advised in the performance of the 3
conciliator's functions by persons with knowledge or 4
experience in the field of dispute resolution (a professional 5
mentor). 6
(2) A conciliator may discuss all matters arising in relation to the 7
performance of the conciliator's functions with the 8
conciliator's professional mentor. 9
(3) A conciliator's professional mentor must not be involved in 10
the investigation of the health service complaint the 11
conciliator is conciliating. 12
(4) A conciliator's professional mentor must not disclose 13
information gained by the conciliator during conciliation that 14
the conciliator has communicated to the professional mentor. 15
Maximum penalty for subsection (4)--40 penalty units. 16
85 Administrative support staff 17
(1) The commission may make arrangements for a commission 18
officer to give administrative support to a conciliator in the 19
performance of the conciliator's functions. 20
(2) A conciliator may disclose information gained during 21
conciliation to the commission officer. 22
(3) If a conciliator discloses information gained during 23
conciliation to a commission officer, the officer must not 24
disclose the information. 25
Maximum penalty for subsection (3)--40 penalty units. 26
s 86 55 s 86
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 7 Investigations by 1
commission 2
Part 1 Commission's investigations 3
86 Commission's investigations 4
The commission may investigate the following-- 5
(a) a health service complaint that the commission decides 6
to investigate under section 61, 76, 80 or 81;33 7
(b) a health quality complaint the commission decides to 8
investigate; 9
(c) the quality of a health service; 10
(d) systemic issues relating to the quality of health services; 11
(e) the death of a person that is a reportable death under the 12
Coroners Act 2003 if the commission considers the 13
quality of a health service, or systemic issues relating to 14
the quality of health services, are or may be relevant to 15
the death; 16
(f) a health complaint or systemic issues for which the 17
Minister has given a direction to the commission under 18
section 164(1)(c) or (e);34 19
(g) the use of premises for the reception, care or treatment 20
of-- 21
(i) aged persons; or 22
(ii) persons with a mental or physical illness; or 23
(iii) persons with a disability; or 24
(iv) persons in receipt of pensions, allowances or 25
benefits because of age, illness or disability. 26
33 Section 61 (Action on acceptance of complaint about provider), 76 (Action by
commission on becoming aware of public interest issue), 80 (Action on report of
unsuccessful conciliation) or 81 (Ending conciliation by commission)
34 Section 164 (Other directions by Minister)
s 87 56 s 88
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
1
Note--
2
The commission may carry on an investigation through an authorised
3
person appointed under chapter 9.
Part 2 Referral of matter to other 4
entity 5
87 Referral to another entity 6
(1) This section applies if the commission considers that a matter 7
raised in the course of an investigation under this chapter 8
should be investigated or otherwise dealt with by another 9
entity that has a function or power under an Act or a 10
Commonwealth Act to investigate or take other appropriate 11
action about the matter. 12
(2) The commission may refer the matter to the entity. 13
(3) However, the commission must not refer the matter to the 14
entity without first consulting it. 15
88 Investigation by other entity 16
(1) This section applies if the commission refers a matter under 17
section 87 to an entity that has a function or power under an 18
Act to investigate or take other appropriate action about the 19
matter. 20
(2) The commission may ask the entity to provide the 21
commission with reports of the progress and results of any 22
investigation or other action taken by the entity about the 23
matter. 24
(3) The entity may provide the commission with reports of the 25
progress and results of any investigation or other action taken 26
by the entity about the matter. 27
s 89 57 s 92
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
89 Commission's powers not affected by reference 1
The commission's powers to investigate a matter are not 2
affected by the matter having been referred under section 87 3
to another entity. 4
Part 3 Action on investigation 5
90 Definitions for pt 3 6
In this part-- 7
complainant means a complainant in relation to a health 8
complaint that is the subject of an investigation. 9
provider means a provider who is the subject of an 10
investigation that a report concerns. 11
91 Commission's report about investigation 12
(1) The commission may at any time prepare a report about an 13
investigation conducted by the commission for the purpose of 14
giving it to an entity mentioned in section 92. 15
(2) If the commission intends to recommend in the report that a 16
registration board or other entity take particular action about a 17
matter dealt with in the report, it must consult the board or 18
other entity about the recommendation before finalising the 19
report. 20
(3) Subject to section 205,35 the report may contain information, 21
comment, opinion and recommendations for action the 22
commission considers appropriate. 23
92 To whom report may be given 24
The commission may give the report to any or all of the 25
following-- 26
35 Section 205 (Response to adverse comments in commission report)
s 93 58 s 94
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) the complainant; 1
(b) the provider; 2
(c) an employer of the provider; 3
(d) an entity on whose behalf the provider is providing 4
health services; 5
(e) a registration board; 6
(f) a professional association or other entity of which the 7
provider is, or is eligible to be, a member; 8
(g) the Minister; 9
(h) the State Coroner, or another coroner investigating a 10
death to which the report is relevant; 11
(i) an entity that has a function or power to take action on 12
matters raised in the report. 13
Part 4 Conciliation after investigation 14
93 Conciliation of investigated health service complaint 15
(1) This section applies if the commission considers that a health 16
service complaint that has been investigated under this chapter 17
should be conciliated. 18
(2) The commissioner may conciliate the health service 19
complaint under chapter 6. 20
Chapter 8 Inquiries by commission 21
94 Commission may conduct an inquiry 22
(1) The commission may conduct an inquiry relating to any of the 23
following matters if it considers it is in the public interest to 24
do so-- 25
s 95 59 s 97
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) a health complaint; 1
(b) the quality of a health service; 2
(c) systemic issues relating to the quality of health services; 3
(d) another matter relevant to the commission's functions. 4
(2) For conducting the inquiry the commission may also inquire 5
into matters arising directly or indirectly from the matter 6
being inquired into. 7
95 Commission must conduct inquiry if directed by Minister 8
(1) The commission must conduct an inquiry relating to a matter 9
mentioned in section 94(1)(a) to (c) if directed to do so by the 10
Minister under section 163.36 11
(2) For conducting the inquiry the commission may also inquire 12
into matters arising directly or indirectly from the matter 13
being inquired into. 14
96 Constitution of commission for inquiry 15
(1) For conducting an inquiry, the commission must be 16
constituted by at least 3 commission members decided by the 17
commission (each an inquiry member). 18
(2) The commission may appoint a commission member to act as 19
an inquiry member, including as the presiding member-- 20
(a) during a vacancy in the inquiry member's office as a 21
commission member; or 22
(b) during any period, or during all periods, when the 23
inquiry member is absent from duty or from the State or 24
is, for another reason, unable to perform the duties of 25
the office. 26
97 Who is to preside at inquiry 27
(1) If the commissioner is an inquiry member, the commissioner 28
is to preside at the inquiry (the presiding member). 29
36 Section 163 (Minister may direct inquiry)
s 98 60 s 101
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) Otherwise, the inquiry member appointed by the commission 1
for the purpose is to preside at an inquiry (also the presiding 2
member). 3
98 Commission must be assisted by lawyer 4
At an inquiry, the commission must be assisted by a lawyer of 5
at least 5 years standing. 6
99 Procedure 7
(1) When conducting an inquiry, the commission must-- 8
(a) observe natural justice; and 9
(b) act as quickly, and with as little formality and 10
technicality, as is consistent with a fair and proper 11
consideration of the issues. 12
(2) In conducting the inquiry, the commission-- 13
(a) is not bound by the rules of evidence; and 14
(b) may inform itself in any way it considers appropriate, 15
including by holding hearings; and 16
(c) may decide the procedures to be followed for the 17
inquiry. 18
(3) However, the commission must comply with this chapter and 19
any procedural rules prescribed under a regulation. 20
100 Notice of inquiry 21
(1) The commission must give at least 14 days notice of the time 22
and place of an inquiry to any person the commission 23
reasonably believes should be given the opportunity to appear 24
at the inquiry. 25
(2) The commission may also give public notice of the inquiry in 26
any way it wishes. 27
101 Inquiry to be held in public other than in special 28
circumstances 29
(1) An inquiry must be held in public. 30
s 102 61 s 103
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) However, the commission may, of its own initiative or on the 1
application of a person appearing before or represented at the 2
inquiry, direct that the inquiry, or a part of the inquiry, be held 3
in private. 4
(3) The commission may give a direction under subsection (2) 5
only if it is satisfied that it is appropriate to do so in the 6
special circumstances of the case. 7
(4) If the commission acts under subsection (2) it may give 8
directions about the persons who may be present. 9
102 Suppression of name of witness 10
The commission may, by order, suppress the name of a 11
witness appearing at an inquiry if the commission considers it 12
is necessary or desirable to do so. 13
103 Protection of commission members, representatives and 14
witnesses 15
For an inquiry-- 16
(a) an inquiry member has, in the performance of the 17
member's functions, the same protection and immunity 18
as a Supreme Court judge performing the functions of a 19
judge; and 20
(b) a lawyer assisting the commission, or a lawyer or other 21
person appearing before the commission for someone 22
else, has the same protection and immunity as a barrister 23
appearing for a party in a proceeding in the Supreme 24
Court; and 25
(c) a person given a witness requirement notice to attend or 26
appearing before the commission as a witness has the 27
same protection as a witness in a proceeding in the 28
Supreme Court; and 29
(d) a person, for complying with a notice given to the 30
person under section 107,37 has the same protection as a 31
witness in a proceeding in the Supreme Court. 32
37 Section 107 (Notice requiring information)
s 104 62 s 107
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
104 Record of proceedings to be kept 1
The commission must keep a record of each inquiry's 2
proceedings. 3
105 Commission's powers on inquiry 4
(1) In conducting an inquiry, the commission may-- 5
(a) act in the absence of a person who has been given 6
reasonable notice of the inquiry under section 10038 or 7
otherwise; and 8
(b) receive evidence on oath or by statutory declaration; and 9
(c) adjourn the inquiry; and 10
(d) disregard a defect, error, omission or insufficiency in a 11
record. 12
(2) An inquiry member may administer an oath or affirmation to a 13
person appearing as a witness before an inquiry. 14
106 Notice to witness 15
(1) The presiding member may, by notice given to a person (a 16
witness requirement notice), require the person to attend an 17
inquiry at a stated time and place to give evidence or produce 18
stated records or other things. 19
(2) A notice under subsection (1) may require the person to 20
produce records or other things of a stated class or 21
description. 22
(3) A person required to appear as a witness before the 23
commission is entitled to the witness fees prescribed under a 24
regulation or, if no witness fees are prescribed, the reasonable 25
witness fees decided by the commission. 26
107 Notice requiring information 27
(1) For the purpose of an inquiry the commissioner or the 28
presiding member may, by notice given to a person, require 29
38 Section 100 (Notice of inquiry)
s 108 63 s 108
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
the person to give to the commission stated information 1
within a stated reasonable time and in a stated reasonable way. 2
(2) The person must comply with the notice, unless the person 3
has a reasonable excuse. 4
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 5
(3) It is not a reasonable excuse for subsection (2) that giving the 6
information might tend to incriminate the person. 7
(4) The following is not admissible in any civil, criminal or 8
administrative proceeding as evidence against an individual 9
who gives information under subsection (2)-- 10
(a) the information given by the individual under the 11
subsection and the fact of that giving (primary 12
evidence); 13
(b) any information obtained as a direct or indirect result of 14
primary evidence (derived evidence). 15
(5) Subsection (4) does not prevent primary evidence or derived 16
evidence being admitted in evidence in criminal proceedings 17
about the falsity or misleading nature of the primary evidence. 18
108 Inspection of records or other things 19
(1) If a record or other thing is produced to the commission at an 20
inquiry, the commission may-- 21
(a) inspect the record or other thing; and 22
(b) make copies of, photograph, film or take extracts from, 23
the record or other thing if it is relevant to the inquiry. 24
(2) The commission may also take possession of the record or 25
other thing, and keep it while it is necessary for the inquiry. 26
(3) While it keeps a record or other thing, the commission must 27
permit a person otherwise entitled to possession of the record 28
or other thing to inspect, make copies of, photograph, film or 29
take extracts from, the record or other thing, at a reasonable 30
place and time the commission decides. 31
s 109 64 s 109
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
109 Offences by witnesses 1
(1) A person given a witness requirement notice must not fail, 2
without a reasonable excuse, to-- 3
(a) attend as required by the notice; and 4
(b) continue to attend as required by the presiding member 5
until excused from further attendance. 6
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 7
(2) A person appearing as a witness at an inquiry must not fail-- 8
(a) to take an oath or make an affirmation when required by 9
the presiding member; or 10
(b) without reasonable excuse, to answer a question the 11
person is required to answer by the presiding member; 12
or 13
(c) without reasonable excuse, to produce a record or other 14
thing the person is required to produce under a witness 15
requirement notice. 16
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 17
(3) It is not a reasonable excuse for subsection (2)(b) or (c) that 18
answering the question or producing the record or other thing 19
might tend to incriminate the person. 20
(4) The following is not admissible in any civil, criminal or 21
administrative proceeding as evidence against an individual 22
who answers a question or produces a record or other thing at 23
an inquiry in response to a requirement under this chapter-- 24
(a) the answer given, or the record or other thing produced, 25
at the inquiry by the individual and the fact of that 26
production (primary evidence); 27
(b) any information, or record or other thing, obtained as a 28
direct or indirect result of primary evidence (derived 29
evidence). 30
(5) Subsection (4) does not prevent primary evidence or derived 31
evidence being admitted in evidence in criminal proceedings 32
about the falsity or misleading nature of the primary evidence. 33
s 110 65 s 113
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
110 Contempt of commission 1
In relation to an inquiry, a person must not-- 2
(a) insult the commission or an inquiry member; or 3
(b) deliberately interrupt the inquiry; or 4
(c) create or continue, or join in creating or continuing, a 5
disturbance in or near a place where the commission is 6
conducting the inquiry; or 7
(d) publish, in a public way, information that identifies, or is 8
likely to identify, a person to whom a suppression order 9
made under section 102 relates; or 10
(e) do anything that would be contempt of court if the 11
commission were a judge acting judicially. 12
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 13
111 Change or absence of inquiry member 14
The conduct of an inquiry is not affected by-- 15
(a) a change in the inquiry members; or 16
(b) the absence of an inquiry member if there are at least 3 17
remaining inquiry members. 18
112 Report by commission 19
(1) The commission must prepare a written report about each 20
inquiry conducted by it. 21
(2) The commission must give the report to the Minister 22
113 Minister must table report 23
The Minister must table the report in the Legislative 24
Assembly within 14 days of receiving it. 25
s 114 66 s 116
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 9 Monitoring, enforcement 1
and investigations 2
Part 1 Authorised persons' functions 3
and powers generally 4
114 Functions of authorised person 5
An authorised person has the functions of-- 6
(a) monitoring and enforcing compliance with this Act, 7
including compliance with section 20(1);39 and 8
(b) investigating matters the commission is authorised to 9
investigate under section 86 and inquiry matters. 10
115 Powers of authorised person 11
For performing an authorised person's functions, the 12
authorised person has the powers given to the authorised 13
person under this Act. 14
Part 2 Appointment of authorised 15
persons 16
116 Appointment 17
(1) The commission may appoint a commission member, 18
commission officer or other person as an authorised person. 19
(2) However, the commission may appoint a person as an 20
authorised person only if the commission is satisfied the 21
person is qualified for appointment because the person has the 22
necessary expertise or experience. 23
39 Section 20 (Duty of provider)
s 117 67 s 119
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
117 Appointment conditions and limit on powers 1
(1) An authorised person holds office on the conditions stated 2
in-- 3
(a) the authorised person's instrument of appointment; or 4
(b) a commission notice given to the authorised person. 5
(2) The instrument of appointment or a commission notice given 6
to an authorised person may limit the authorised person's 7
powers under this Act. 8
(3) In this section-- 9
commission notice means a notice authorised by the 10
commission. 11
118 Issue of identity card 12
(1) The commission must issue an identity card to each 13
authorised person. 14
(2) The identity card must-- 15
(a) contain a recent photo of the authorised person; and 16
(b) contain a copy of the authorised person's signature; and 17
(c) identify the person as an authorised person under this 18
Act; and 19
(d) state an expiry date for the card. 20
(3) This section does not prevent the issue of a single identity 21
card to a person for this Act and other purposes. 22
119 Production or display of identity card 23
(1) In exercising a power under this Act in relation to another 24
person, an authorised person must-- 25
(a) produce the authorised person's identity card for the 26
other person's inspection before exercising the power; 27
or 28
(b) have the identity card displayed so it is clearly visible to 29
the other person when exercising the power. 30
s 120 68 s 122
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) However if it is not practicable to comply with subsection (1), 1
the authorised person must produce the identity card for the 2
other person's inspection at the first reasonable opportunity. 3
(3) For subsection (1), an authorised person does not exercise a 4
power in relation to another person only because the 5
authorised person has entered a place as mentioned in section 6
126(1)(b) or (3).40 7
120 When authorised person ceases to hold office 8
(1) An authorised person stops holding office if any of the 9
following happens-- 10
(a) the term of office stated in a condition of office ends; 11
(b) under another condition of office, the authorised officer 12
ceases to hold office; 13
(c) the authorised officer's resignation under section 121 14
takes effect. 15
(2) Subsection (1) does not limit the ways an authorised person 16
may cease to hold office. 17
(3) In this section-- 18
condition of office means a condition on which the authorised 19
person holds office. 20
121 Resignation 21
An authorised person may resign by signed notice given to the 22
commission. 23
122 Return of identity card 24
A person who ceases to be an authorised person must return 25
the person's identity card to the commission within 21 days 26
after ceasing to be an authorised person, unless the person has 27
a reasonable excuse. 28
Maximum penalty--20 penalty units. 29
40 Section 126 (Power to enter places)
s 123 69 s 124
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Part 3 Powers of authorised persons 1
Division 1 Power to obtain information 2
123 Power to require information or attendance 3
(1) An authorised person may, by notice given to a person, require 4
the person-- 5
(a) to give stated information to the authorised person 6
within a stated reasonable time and in a stated 7
reasonable way; or 8
(b) to attend before the authorised person at a stated 9
reasonable time and place-- 10
(i) to answer questions; or 11
(ii) to produce a stated thing. 12
(2) A notice under subsection (1) may require the person to 13
produce things of a stated class or description. 14
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply for investigating an inquiry 15
matter. 16
124 Offences 17
(1) A person required to give information to an authorised person 18
under section 123 must give the information as required by the 19
notice, unless the person has a reasonable excuse. 20
Maximum penalty--50 penalty units. 21
(2) A person given a notice to attend before an authorised person 22
under section 123 must, unless the person has a reasonable 23
excuse-- 24
(a) attend as required by the notice; and 25
(b) continue to attend as required by the authorised person 26
until excused from further attendance; and 27
(c) answer a question the person is required to answer by 28
the authorised person; and 29
s 125 70 s 125
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(d) produce a thing the person is required to produce by the 1
notice. 2
Maximum penalty--50 penalty units. 3
(3) It is a reasonable excuse for an individual not to give 4
information, answer a question or produce a stated thing, that 5
giving the information, answering the question or producing 6
the thing might tend to incriminate the individual. 7
125 Inspection of produced things 8
(1) If a thing is produced to an authorised person, whether under a 9
notice under section 123 or otherwise, the authorised person 10
may inspect it. 11
(2) If the authorised person reasonably considers the thing may be 12
relevant to the investigation being carried out by the 13
authorised person or for monitoring or enforcing compliance 14
with this Act, the authorised person may do all or any of the 15
following-- 16
(a) photograph the thing; 17
(b) for a record--make a copy of, or take an extract from, 18
the record; 19
(c) keep the thing while it is necessary for the investigation 20
or as evidence of a contravention of this Act. 21
(3) If the authorised person keeps the thing, the authorised person 22
must allow a person otherwise entitled to possession of the 23
thing-- 24
(a) for a record--to inspect, copy, or take an extract from, 25
the record, at the reasonable time and place the 26
authorised person decides; or 27
(b) for another thing--to inspect or photograph the thing, at 28
the reasonable time and place the authorised person 29
decides. 30
s 126 71 s 126
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Division 2 Entry of places 1
126 Power to enter places 2
(1) An authorised person may enter a place if-- 3
(a) an occupier of the place consents to the entry; or 4
(b) it is a public place and the entry is made when it is open 5
to the public; or 6
(c) the entry is authorised by a warrant. 7
(2) Also, an authorised person may enter a place for the purpose 8
of monitoring compliance with section 20(1)41 if-- 9
(a) it is a health service facility; and 10
(b) the entry is authorised in writing signed by the chief 11
executive; and 12
(c) the entry is made-- 13
(i) when the facility is open for business or otherwise 14
open for entry; and 15
(ii) after giving an occupier of the facility at least 24 16
hours notice of the entry. 17
(3) For the purpose of asking an occupier of a place for consent to 18
enter, an authorised person may, without an occupier's 19
consent or a warrant-- 20
(a) enter land around premises at the place to an extent that 21
is reasonable to contact an occupier; or 22
(b) enter part of the place the authorised person reasonably 23
considers members of the public ordinarily are allowed 24
to enter when they wish to contact an occupier. 25
41 Section 20 (Duty of provider)
s 127 72 s 127
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Division 3 Procedure for entry 1
127 Entry with consent 2
(1) This section applies if an authorised person intends to ask an 3
occupier of a place to consent to the authorised person or 4
another authorised person entering the place under section 5
126(1)(a). 6
(2) Before asking for the consent, the authorised person must tell 7
the occupier-- 8
(a) the purpose of the entry; and 9
(b) that the occupier is not required to consent. 10
(3) If the consent is given, the authorised person may ask the 11
occupier to sign an acknowledgment of the consent. 12
(4) The acknowledgment must state-- 13
(a) the occupier has been told-- 14
(i) the purpose of the entry; and 15
(ii) that the occupier is not required to consent; and 16
(b) the purpose of the entry; and 17
(c) the occupier gives the authorised person consent to enter 18
the place and exercise powers under this part; and 19
(d) the time and date the consent was given. 20
(5) If the occupier signs the acknowledgment, the authorised 21
person must immediately give a copy to the occupier. 22
(6) If-- 23
(a) an issue arises in a proceeding about whether the 24
occupier consented to the entry; and 25
(b) an acknowledgment complying with subsection (4) for 26
the entry is not produced in evidence; 27
the onus of proof is on the person relying on the lawfulness of 28
the entry to prove the occupier consented. 29
s 128 73 s 129
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
128 Application for warrant 1
(1) An authorised person may apply to a magistrate for a warrant 2
for a place. 3
(2) The authorised person must prepare a written application that 4
states the grounds on which the warrant is sought. 5
(3) The written application must be sworn. 6
(4) The magistrate may refuse to consider the application until the 7
authorised person gives the magistrate all the information the 8
magistrate requires about the application in the way the 9
magistrate requires. 10
11
Example--
12
The magistrate may require additional information supporting the
13
application to be given by statutory declaration.
129 Issue of warrant 14
(1) The magistrate may issue the warrant for the place if the 15
magistrate is satisfied there are reasonable grounds for 16
suspecting-- 17
(a) there is a particular thing or activity (the evidence) that 18
may provide evidence-- 19
(i) about a matter being investigated by the authorised 20
person; or 21
(ii) of an offence against this Act; and 22
(b) the evidence is at the place, or, within the next 7 days, 23
will be at the place. 24
(2) The magistrate may also issue the warrant for the place if the 25
magistrate is satisfied there are reasonable grounds for 26
suspecting-- 27
(a) the place is premises used for a purpose mentioned in 28
section 86(g); and 29
(b) there is at the place, or, within the next 7 days there will 30
be at the place, a person mentioned in that paragraph 31
whose health or safety may be at risk. 32
(3) The warrant must state-- 33
(a) the place to which the warrant applies; and 34
s 130 74 s 130
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(b) that a stated authorised person may, with necessary and 1
reasonable help and force-- 2
(i) enter the place and any other place necessary for 3
entry to the place; and 4
(ii) exercise the authorised person's powers under this 5
part; and 6
(c) if subsection (1)(a)(i) applies--the matter being 7
investigated for which the warrant is sought; and 8
(d) if subsection (1)(a)(ii) applies--particulars of the 9
offence that the magistrate considers appropriate in the 10
circumstances; and 11
(e) if subsection (1) applies, the evidence that may be 12
seized under the warrant; and 13
(f) the hours of the day or night when the place may be 14
entered; and 15
(g) the magistrate's name; and 16
(h) the date and time of the warrant's issue; and 17
(i) the date, within 14 days after the warrant's issue, the 18
warrant ends. 19
130 Application by electronic communication and duplicate 20
warrant 21
(1) An application under section 128 may be made by phone, fax, 22
email, radio, videoconferencing or another form of electronic 23
communication if the authorised person reasonably considers 24
it necessary because of-- 25
(a) urgent circumstances; or 26
(b) other special circumstances, including, for example, the 27
authorised person's remote location. 28
(2) The application-- 29
(a) may not be made before the authorised person prepares 30
the written application under section 128(2); but 31
(b) may be made before the written application is sworn. 32
s 130 75 s 130
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) The magistrate may issue the warrant (the original warrant) 1
only if the magistrate is satisfied-- 2
(a) it was necessary to make the application under 3
subsection (1); and 4
(b) the way the application was made under subsection (1) 5
was appropriate. 6
(4) After the magistrate issues the original warrant-- 7
(a) if there is a reasonably practicable way of immediately 8
giving a copy of the warrant to the authorised person, for 9
example, by sending a copy by fax or email, the 10
magistrate must immediately give a copy of the warrant 11
to the authorised person; or 12
(b) otherwise-- 13
(i) the magistrate must tell the authorised person the 14
date and time the warrant is issued and the other 15
terms of the warrant; and 16
(ii) the authorised person must complete a form of 17
warrant, including by writing on it-- 18
(A) the magistrate's name; and 19
(B) the date and time the magistrate issued the 20
warrant; and 21
(C) the other terms of the warrant. 22
(5) The copy of the warrant mentioned in subsection (4)(a), or the 23
form of warrant completed under subsection (4)(b) (in either 24
case the duplicate warrant), is a duplicate of, and as effectual 25
as, the original warrant. 26
(6) The authorised person must, at the first reasonable 27
opportunity, send to the magistrate-- 28
(a) the written application complying with section 128(2) 29
and (3); and 30
(b) if the authorised person completed a form of warrant 31
under subsection (4)(b)--the completed form of 32
warrant. 33
(7) The magistrate must keep the original warrant and, on 34
receiving the documents under subsection (6)-- 35
s 131 76 s 132
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) attach the documents to the original warrant; and 1
(b) give the original warrant and documents to the clerk of 2
the court of the relevant magistrates court. 3
(8) Despite subsection (5), if-- 4
(a) an issue arises in a proceeding about whether an 5
exercise of a power was authorised by a warrant issued 6
under this section; and 7
(b) the original warrant is not produced in evidence; 8
the onus of proof is on the person relying on the lawfulness of 9
the exercise of the power to prove a warrant authorised the 10
exercise of the power. 11
(9) This section does not limit section 128. 12
(10) In this section-- 13
relevant magistrates court, in relation to a magistrate, means 14
the Magistrates Court that the magistrate constitutes under the 15
Magistrates Act 1991. 16
131 Defect in relation to a warrant 17
(1) A warrant is not invalidated by a defect in the warrant, or in 18
compliance with section 128, 129 or 130, unless the defect 19
affects the substance of the warrant in a material particular. 20
(2) In this section-- 21
warrant includes a duplicate warrant mentioned in section 22
130(5). 23
132 Warrants--procedure before entry 24
(1) This section applies if an authorised person named in a 25
warrant issued under this division for a place is intending to 26
enter the place under the warrant. 27
(2) Before entering the place, the authorised person must do or 28
make a reasonable attempt to do the following things-- 29
s 133 77 s 133
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) identify himself or herself to another person present at 1
the place who is an occupier of the place in the way 2
stated in section 119;42 3
(b) give the other person a copy of the warrant; 4
(c) tell the other person the authorised person is permitted 5
by the warrant to enter the place; 6
(d) give the other person an opportunity to allow the 7
authorised person immediate entry to the place without 8
using force. 9
(3) However, the authorised person need not comply with 10
subsection (2) if the authorised person believes on reasonable 11
grounds that immediate entry to the place is required to ensure 12
the effective execution of the warrant is not frustrated. 13
(4) In this section-- 14
warrant includes a duplicate warrant mentioned in section 15
130(5). 16
Division 4 Powers after entry 17
133 General powers after entering places 18
(1) This section applies to an authorised person who enters a 19
place. 20
(2) However, if an authorised person enters a place to get an 21
occupier's consent to enter a place, this section applies to the 22
authorised person only if the consent is given or the entry is 23
otherwise authorised. 24
(3) The authorised person may-- 25
(a) search any part of the place; or 26
(b) examine, inspect, photograph or film any part of the 27
place or anything at the place; or 28
(c) take an extract from, or copy, a record at the place; or 29
42 Section 119 (Production or display of identity card)
s 134 78 s 135
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(d) take into or onto the place any person, equipment or 1
material the authorised person reasonably requires for 2
exercising a power under this division; or 3
(e) require an occupier of the place, or a person at the place, 4
to give the authorised person reasonable help to exercise 5
the authorised person's powers mentioned in paragraphs 6
(a) to (d). 7
(4) Also, if the place is premises mentioned in section 86(g), the 8
authorised person may, with the approval of the chief 9
executive, make arrangements to secure the health and safety 10
of a person, mentioned in that paragraph, on the premises if 11
the authorised person reasonably suspects-- 12
(a) the person can not independently leave the premises; 13
and 14
(b) the person's health or safety may be at risk. 15
(5) Without limiting subsection (4), the arrangements made by 16
the authorised person may be for the person to be relocated or 17
provided with personal assistance or health services. 18
(6) When making a requirement mentioned in subsection (3)(e), 19
the authorised person must warn the person it is an offence to 20
fail to comply with the requirement, unless the person has a 21
reasonable excuse. 22
134 Exercise of general powers 23
When entering a place to exercise powers under this division, 24
an authorised person must not do anything that may adversely 25
affect the health or physical privacy of a person. 26
27
Example of how a person's physical privacy may be affected--
28
entering a room while a person is being examined by a medical
29
practitioner
135 Failure to help authorised person 30
(1) A person required to give reasonable help under section 31
133(3)(e) must comply with the requirement, unless the 32
person has a reasonable excuse. 33
Maximum penalty--50 penalty units. 34
s 136 79 s 137
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) If an individual is required under section 133(3)(e) to give 1
information or produce a record, it is a reasonable excuse for 2
the individual not to comply with the requirement that 3
complying with the requirement might tend to incriminate the 4
individual. 5
Division 5 Power to seize evidence 6
136 Seizing evidence at a place that may be entered without 7
consent or warrant 8
(1) This section applies if an authorised person enters a place that 9
may be entered under this part without the consent of an 10
occupier and without a warrant. 11
(2) The authorised person may seize a thing at the place if the 12
authorised person reasonably believes the thing is evidence-- 13
(a) of a contravention of section 20(1) or of an offence 14
against this Act; or 15
(b) that is relevant to the investigation being carried out by 16
the authorised person. 17
137 Seizing evidence at a place that may only be entered with 18
consent or warrant 19
(1) This section applies if-- 20
(a) an authorised person is authorised to enter a place under 21
this part only with the consent of an occupier or a 22
warrant; and 23
(b) the authorised person enters the place after obtaining the 24
necessary consent or warrant. 25
(2) If the authorised person enters the place with the occupier's 26
consent, the authorised person may seize a thing at the place 27
if-- 28
(a) the authorised person reasonably believes the thing is 29
evidence-- 30
(i) of a contravention of section 20(1) or of an offence 31
against this Act; or 32
s 138 80 s 139
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(ii) that is relevant to the investigation being carried 1
out by the authorised person; and 2
(b) seizure of the thing is consistent with the purpose of 3
entry as told to the occupier when asking for the 4
occupier's consent. 5
(3) If the authorised person enters the place with a warrant, the 6
authorised person may seize the evidence for which the 7
warrant was issued. 8
(4) The authorised person may also seize anything else at the 9
place if the authorised person reasonably believes-- 10
(a) the thing is evidence-- 11
(i) of a contravention of section 20(1) or of an offence 12
against this Act; or 13
(ii) that is relevant to the investigation or of an offence 14
against this Act; and 15
(b) the seizure is necessary to prevent the thing being 16
hidden, lost or destroyed. 17
138 Receipt for seized things 18
(1) As soon as possible after an authorised person seizes a thing 19
(a seized thing), the authorised person must give a receipt for 20
the seized thing to the person from whom it was seized. 21
(2) However, if for any reason it is not practicable to comply with 22
subsection (1), the authorised person must leave the receipt at 23
the place of seizure, in a reasonably secure way and in a 24
conspicuous position. 25
(3) The receipt must describe generally each seized thing and its 26
condition. 27
(4) This section does not apply to a thing if it is impracticable or 28
would be unreasonable to give the receipt, given the thing's 29
nature, condition and value. 30
139 Forfeiture of seized thing 31
(1) A seized thing is forfeited to the commission if the authorised 32
person who seized the thing-- 33
s 140 81 s 141
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) can not find its owner, after making reasonable 1
inquiries; or 2
(b) can not return it to its owner, after making reasonable 3
efforts. 4
(2) In applying subsection (1)-- 5
(a) subsection (1)(a) does not require the authorised person 6
to make inquiries if it would be unreasonable to make 7
inquiries to find the owner; and 8
(b) subsection (1)(b) does not require the authorised person 9
to make efforts if it would be unreasonable to make 10
efforts to return the thing to its owner. 11
12
Example--
13
The owner of the thing has migrated to another country.
(3) Regard must be had to a thing's nature, condition and value in 14
deciding-- 15
(a) whether it is reasonable to make inquiries or efforts; and 16
(b) if making inquiries or efforts, what inquiries or efforts, 17
including the period over which they are made, are 18
reasonable. 19
140 Dealing with forfeited things etc. 20
(1) On the forfeiture of a thing to the commission, the thing 21
becomes the commission's property and may be dealt with by 22
the commission as the commission considers appropriate. 23
(2) Without limiting subsection (1), the commission may destroy 24
or dispose of the thing. 25
141 Access to seized things 26
(1) Until a seized thing is forfeited or returned, an authorised 27
person must allow a person who would be entitled to the 28
seized thing, if it were not in the authorised person's 29
possession, to inspect it and, if it is a record, to take extracts 30
from it or copy it. 31
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply if it is impracticable or would 32
be unreasonable to allow the inspection or copying. 33
s 142 82 s 143
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
142 Return of seized things 1
(1) If a seized thing is not forfeited, an authorised person must 2
return it to its owner at the end of-- 3
(a) 6 months; or 4
(b) if proceedings involving the thing are started within 5
6 months--the proceeding and any appeal from the 6
proceeding. 7
(2) Despite subsection (1), the authorised person must 8
immediately return the seized thing to its owner if the 9
authorised person is satisfied that its retention as evidence is 10
no longer necessary. 11
Division 6 Compensation 12
143 Notice of damage 13
(1) This section applies if-- 14
(a) an authorised person damages property when exercising 15
or purporting to exercise a power; or 16
(b) a person (the other person) acting under the direction or 17
authority of an authorised person damages property. 18
(2) The authorised person must, as soon as practicable, give 19
notice of particulars of the damage to a person who appears to 20
the authorised person to be an owner of the property. 21
(3) If the authorised person believes the damage was caused by a 22
latent defect in the property or circumstances beyond the 23
authorised person's or other person's control, the authorised 24
person may state the belief in the notice. 25
(4) If, for any reason, it is impracticable to comply with 26
subsection (2), the authorised person must leave the notice in 27
a conspicuous position and in a reasonably secure way where 28
the damage happened. 29
(5) This section does not apply to damage the authorised person 30
reasonably believes is trivial. 31
(6) In this section-- 32
s 144 83 s 145
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
owner, of property, includes a person in possession or control 1
of it. 2
144 Compensation 3
(1) A person may claim compensation from the commission if the 4
person incurs loss or expense because of the exercise or 5
purported exercise of a power under any of the following 6
divisions of this part-- 7
· division 2 (Entry of places) 8
· division 4 (Powers after entry) 9
· division 5 (Power to seize evidence). 10
(2) Payment of compensation may be claimed and ordered in a 11
proceeding for-- 12
(a) compensation brought in a court of competent 13
jurisdiction; or 14
(b) an offence against this Act brought against the person 15
making the claim for compensation. 16
(3) A court may order the payment of compensation for the loss 17
or expense only if it is satisfied it is just to make the order in 18
the circumstances of the particular case. 19
Division 7 General enforcement matters 20
145 Obstructing authorised person 21
(1) A person must not obstruct an authorised person in the 22
exercise of a power under this Act, unless the person has a 23
reasonable excuse. 24
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 25
(2) If a person obstructs an authorised person in the exercise of a 26
power under this Act and the authorised person decides to 27
exercise the power, the authorised person must warn the 28
person that-- 29
(a) it is an offence to obstruct the authorised person, unless 30
the person has a reasonable excuse; and 31
s 146 84 s 149
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(b) the authorised person considers the person's conduct is 1
an obstruction. 2
(3) In this section-- 3
obstruct includes hinder, resist and attempt to obstruct. 4
146 Impersonation of authorised person 5
A person must not pretend to be an authorised person. 6
Maximum penalty--50 penalty units. 7
Chapter 10 Matters concerning the 8
commission 9
Part 1 Membership 10
147 Membership of commission 11
The commission consists of-- 12
(a) the commissioner; and 13
(b) the assistant commissioners. 14
148 Commissioner 15
(1) There is to be a Health Quality and Complaints 16
Commissioner. 17
(2) The Governor in Council is to appoint the commissioner. 18
(3) The commissioner is to be a person with the standing 19
appropriate for performing the commissioner's role. 20
149 Assistant commissioners 21
(1) There are to be at least 5, but not more than 7, Health Quality 22
and Complaints Assistant Commissioners. 23
s 149 85 s 149
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) The Governor in Council is to appoint the assistant 1
commissioners. 2
(3) Of the assistant commissioners-- 3
(a) at least-- 4
(i) 1 must be a lawyer; and 5
(ii) 1 must be a medical practitioner with clinical 6
experience; and 7
(iii) 1 must be a nurse or midwife; and 8
(iv) 1 must be an allied health professional; and 9
(v) 1 must have skills and experience in consumer 10
issues; and 11
(b) all must have skills and experience in governance. 12
(4) In this section-- 13
allied health professional means a registered provider other 14
than a medical practitioner, nurse or midwife. 15
health practitioner registration Act means any 1 of the 16
following Acts-- 17
· Chiropractors Registration Act 2001 18
· Dental Practitioners Registration Act 2001 19
· Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Registration 20
Act 2001 21
· Medical Radiation Technologists Registration Act 2001 22
· Occupational Therapists Registration Act 2001 23
· Optometrists Registration Act 2001 24
· Osteopaths Registration Act 2001 25
· Pharmacists Registration Act 2001 26
· Physiotherapists Registration Act 2001 27
· Podiatrists Registration Act 2001 28
· Psychologists Registration Act 2001 29
· Speech Pathologists Registration Act 2001. 30
s 150 86 s 151
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
medical practitioner includes a person registered under the 1
law of another State or of a foreign country that provides for 2
the same matter as a provision of the Medical Practitioners 3
Registration Act 2001. 4
midwife includes a person authorised to practise midwifery 5
under the law of another State or a foreign country that 6
provides for the same matter as a provision of the Nursing Act 7
1992. 8
nurse means-- 9
(a) a registered nurse or enrolled nurse; or 10
(b) a person authorised to practise nursing under the law of 11
another State or a foreign country that provides for the 12
same matter as a provision of the Nursing Act 1992. 13
registered nurse see the Nursing Act 1992, section 4. 14
registered provider includes a person registered under the law 15
of another State or of a foreign country that provides for the 16
same matter as a provision of a health practitioner registration 17
Act. 18
150 Ineligibility for appointment as commission member 19
A person is not eligible for appointment as a commission 20
member if the person has been convicted of an indictable 21
offence. 22
151 Term and conditions of appointment 23
(1) A person may be appointed as a commission member for a 24
term of not more than 4 years. 25
(2) Subject to this Act, a person holds office as a commission 26
member on the conditions decided by the Governor in 27
Council. 28
(3) A commission member may be appointed on a full-time or 29
part-time basis. 30
(4) A commission member must be appointed under this Act and 31
not under the Public Service Act 1996. 32
s 152 87 s 155
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
152 Vacancy in commission member's office 1
The office of a commission member becomes vacant if the 2
member-- 3
(a) resigns office by signed notice given to the Minister; or 4
(b) is removed from office under section 153. 5
153 Removal or suspension of commission member 6
(1) The Governor in Council may remove a commission member 7
from office if the person-- 8
(a) is an insolvent under administration within the meaning 9
of the Corporations Act, section 9; or 10
(b) is convicted of an indictable offence; or 11
(c) is guilty of misconduct, neglect of duty or 12
incompetence; or 13
(d) becomes mentally or physically incapable of performing 14
satisfactorily the duties of office. 15
(2) For the purpose of the Minister inquiring into a matter that 16
may warrant the removal of a commission member from 17
office, the Governor in Council may suspend the member 18
from office for a period of not more than 6 months. 19
154 Grant of leave to commission member 20
The Minister may grant leave of absence to a commission 21
member on the conditions the Minister considers appropriate. 22
155 Filling vacancies 23
The Governor in Council may appoint a person to act as a 24
commission member-- 25
(a) during a vacancy in the office; or 26
(b) during a period or all periods when the member is 27
absent from duty or from the State or is, for any reason, 28
unable to satisfactorily perform the functions of the 29
office. 30
s 156 88 s 160
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Part 2 Commission business 1
156 Conduct of business 2
Subject to this Act, the commission may conduct its business, 3
including its meetings, in the way it considers appropriate. 4
157 Presiding at meetings 5
(1) The commissioner must preside at all commission meetings at 6
which the commissioner is present. 7
(2) If the commissioner is absent from a commission meeting, an 8
assistant commissioner chosen by the assistant commissioners 9
present must preside. 10
158 Times and places of meetings 11
(1) Commission meetings are to be held at the times and places 12
the commissioner decides. 13
(2) However, the commissioner must call a meeting if asked in 14
writing by at least the number of assistant commissioners 15
forming a quorum for a commission meeting. 16
159 Quorum for meetings 17
A quorum for a commission meeting is the number equal to 18
one-half of the commission members for the time being 19
holding office or, if one-half is not a whole number, the next 20
highest whole number. 21
160 Conduct of meetings 22
(1) A question at a commission meeting is to be decided by a 23
majority of the votes of the commission members present. 24
(2) Each commission member present at the meeting has a vote 25
on each question to be decided and, if the votes are equal, the 26
member presiding also has a casting vote. 27
(3) A commission member who abstains from voting is taken to 28
have voted for the negative. 29
s 161 89 s 162
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(4) The commission may hold meetings, or allow commission 1
members to take part in meetings, by using any technology 2
allowing reasonably contemporaneous and continuous 3
communication between members taking part in the meetings, 4
including, for example, teleconferencing. 5
(5) A commission member who takes part in a meeting of the 6
commission under subsection (4) is taken to have been present 7
at the meeting. 8
(6) A resolution is validly made by the commission, even if it is 9
not passed at a commission meeting, if-- 10
(a) notice of the resolution is given under procedures 11
approved by the commission; and 12
(b) a majority of commission members agrees in writing to 13
the resolution. 14
161 Minutes 15
(1) The commission must keep minutes of its meetings. 16
(2) If a resolution is made under section 160(6) it must be noted 17
in the minutes of the commission meeting next happening 18
after the making of the resolution. 19
(3) If a commission member votes against a resolution and asks 20
that this be recorded in the minutes of the meeting, the fact 21
that the member voted against the resolution must be recorded 22
in the minutes. 23
162 Disclosure of interest 24
(1) This section applies to a commission member (the interested 25
person) if-- 26
(a) the interested person has a direct or indirect interest in 27
an issue being considered, or about to be considered, by 28
the commission; and 29
(b) the interest could conflict with the proper performance 30
of the person's duties about the consideration of the 31
issue. 32
s 162 90 s 162
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) As soon as practicable after the relevant facts come to the 1
interested person's knowledge, the person must disclose the 2
nature of the interest to a commission meeting. 3
(3) Unless the commission otherwise directs, the interested 4
person must not-- 5
(a) be present when the commission considers the issue; or 6
(b) take part in a decision of the commission about the 7
issue. 8
(4) The interested person must not be present when the 9
commission is considering whether to give a direction under 10
subsection (3). 11
(5) If there is another person who must, under subsection (2), also 12
disclose an interest in the issue, the other person must not-- 13
(a) be present when the commission is considering whether 14
to give a direction under subsection (3) about the 15
interested person; or 16
(b) take part in making the decision about giving the 17
direction. 18
(6) If-- 19
(a) because of this section, a commission member is not 20
present at a commission meeting for considering or 21
deciding an issue, or for considering or deciding 22
whether to give a direction under subsection (3); and 23
(b) there would be a quorum if the member were present; 24
the remaining persons present are a quorum of the 25
commission for considering or deciding the issue, or for 26
considering or deciding whether to give the direction, at the 27
meeting. 28
(7) A disclosure under subsection (2) must be recorded in the 29
commission's minutes. 30
s 163 91 s 164
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Part 3 Ministers powers to give 1
directions 2
163 Minister may direct inquiry 3
(1) The Minister may give the commission a written direction to 4
conduct an inquiry under chapter 8 relating to a matter 5
mentioned in section 94(1)(a) to (c).43 6
(2) Before giving the direction, the Minister must consult with the 7
commission for the purpose of deciding the inquiry matter. 8
(3) In deciding the inquiry matter, the Minister must state the 9
purpose of the inquiry. 10
(4) The commission must comply with the direction despite 11
section 12.44 12
164 Other directions by Minister 13
(1) The Minister may give a written direction to the commission 14
to-- 15
(a) provide a report on a specified matter to the Minister; or 16
(b) establish a specified committee under section 169; or 17
(c) investigate a health complaint, including one made by 18
the Minister; or 19
(d) intervene in disciplinary proceedings against a 20
registered provider under section 190;45 or 21
(e) investigate the quality of a health service; or 22
(f) investigate systemic issues relating to the quality of 23
health services. 24
(2) The direction may state a period within which, or a way in 25
which, the direction must be complied with. 26
43 Section 94 (Commission may conduct an inquiry)
44 Section 12 (Commission's independence)
45 Section 190 (Commission may intervene in disciplinary proceedings)
s 165 92 s 167
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) The commission must comply with the direction despite 1
section 12. 2
Part 4 Other matters 3
165 Commission's relationship with the State 4
The Commission does not represent the State. 5
166 Delegation by the commission 6
(1) The commission may delegate its functions to the chief 7
executive or another appropriately qualified commission 8
officer. 9
10
Note--
11
Under section 181(1), the chief executive may subdelegate a delegated
12
function to an appropriately qualified commission officer.
(2) However, the commission may not delegate its function to 13
conduct inquiries under chapter 8. 14
(3) In this section-- 15
appropriately qualified includes having the qualifications, 16
experience or standing appropriate for the function. 17
18
Example of standing for a commission officer--
19
the officer's classification level in the office
functions includes powers. 20
167 Preservation of rights 21
(1) This section applies if a public service officer is appointed as 22
a commission member. 23
(2) The person retains all rights that have accrued to the person 24
because of employment as a public service officer, or that 25
would accrue in the future to the person because of that 26
employment, as if service as a commission member were a 27
continuation of service as a public service officer. 28
s 168 93 s 169
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) If the person stops being a commission member and again 1
becomes a public service officer, the person's service as a 2
commission member is to be regarded as service of a similar 3
kind in the public service for the purpose of determining the 4
person's rights as a public service officer. 5
168 Superannuation for commission member who was 6
previously a public service officer 7
(1) This section applies if a public service officer is appointed as 8
a commission member and immediately before the 9
appointment the public service officer was a member of the 10
State Public Sector Superannuation Scheme under the 11
Superannuation (State Public Sector) Act 1990. 12
(2) The person continues to be eligible to be, and to be, a member 13
of the scheme. 14
169 Committees 15
(1) The commission-- 16
(a) must establish a consumer advisory committee and a 17
clinical advisory committee; and 18
(b) may establish other committees. 19
(2) The functions of the committees are as follows-- 20
(a) for the consumer advisory committee--to advise the 21
commission about consumers' concerns about health 22
services and other matters relevant to the commission's 23
functions referred to the committee by the commission; 24
and 25
(b) for the clinical advisory committee--to advise the 26
commission about clinical matters relevant to the 27
commission's functions referred to the committee by the 28
commission; and 29
(c) for another committee--to advise the commission about 30
matters relevant to the commission's functions referred 31
to the committee by the commission. 32
s 170 94 s 171
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) A committee must include persons the commission considers 1
have the expertise and experience necessary for the 2
performance of the committee's functions. 3
(4) A committee member is entitled to the fees and allowances 4
decided by the Governor in Council. 5
170 Nomination of persons for membership of district health 6
councils 7
(1) This section relates to the commission's function mentioned 8
in section 16(d) of nominating persons to the Minister who it 9
considers suitable for appointment as members of district 10
health councils. 11
(2) In nominating the persons, the commission must have regard 12
to-- 13
(a) the need for community representation on district health 14
councils; and 15
(b) the expertise and experience necessary for the exercise 16
by councils of their functions; and 17
(c) the Health Services Act 1991, sections 10(3) and 13. 18
19
Note--
20
The Health Services Act 1991, section 10(3) limits the number
21
of members of a district health council from a tertiary institution
22
who may be involved in the education and training of health
23
practitioners to 2 and section 13 deals with qualifications for
24
membership.
171 Application of various public sector Acts 25
(1) The commission is-- 26
(a) a unit of public administration under the Crime and 27
Misconduct Act 2001; and 28
(b) a statutory body under the Financial Administration and 29
Audit Act 1977. 30
(2) Under the Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 31
1982, the commission is a statutory body. 32
s 172 95 s 172
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(3) The Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982, part 1
2B46 sets out the way in which the commission's powers 2
under this Act are affected by the Statutory Bodies Financial 3
Arrangements Act 1982. 4
172 Annual report 5
(1) The commission must include in its annual report under the 6
Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977-- 7
(a) information required by the Minister; and 8
(b) details of any direction given to the commission by the 9
Minister that relates to the financial year for which the 10
report is prepared. 11
(2) Subject to section 205,47 the commission may include in an 12
annual report information, opinion and recommendations 13
disclosing details of-- 14
(a) health complaints, inquiry matters and contraventions of 15
this Act; or 16
(b) the quality of health services; or 17
(c) the progress or results of investigations into health 18
complaints or offences against this Act; or 19
(d) the progress or results of inquiries; or 20
(e) systemic issues relating to the quality of health services. 21
(3) However, the commission must not include in an annual 22
report information that identifies a complainant or user 23
unless-- 24
(a) the person consents to its inclusion; or 25
(b) the person's identity, as the complainant for the relevant 26
health complaint or as a user for the relevant health 27
service, is publicly known. 28
46 Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Act 1982, part 2B (Powers under this Act
and relationship with other Acts)
47 Section 205 (Response to adverse comments in commission report)
s 173 96 s 173
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
173 Special report 1
(1) The commission may, at any time, give to the Minister a 2
report providing information relating to the activities of the 3
commission. 4
(2) Subject to section 205, the commission may include in the 5
report information, opinion and recommendations disclosing 6
details of-- 7
(a) health complaints or contraventions of this Act; or 8
(b) the quality of health services; or 9
(c) results of investigations into health complaints, or 10
contraventions of this Act; or 11
(d) systemic issues relating to the quality of health services. 12
(3) However, the commission must not include in the report 13
information that identifies a complainant or a user unless-- 14
(a) the person consents to its inclusion; or 15
(b) the person's identity, as the complainant for the relevant 16
health complaint or as a user for the relevant health 17
service, is publicly known. 18
(4) The Minister must table the report in the Legislative 19
Assembly within 14 days of receiving it. 20
s 174 97 s 176
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 11 Office of the Health Quality 1
and Complaints 2
Commission 3
Part 1 Establishment 4
174 Establishment of office 5
(1) The Office of the Health Quality and Complaints Commission 6
is established. 7
(2) The office consists of the chief executive and the other staff of 8
the office. 9
Part 2 Office's function and powers 10
175 Function and powers 11
(1) The office's function is to help the commission in the 12
performance of its functions. 13
(2) The office may do anything necessary or convenient to be 14
done in performing its function. 15
176 Status 16
The office is not a statutory body for the Financial 17
Administration and Audit Act 1977 or the Statutory Bodies 18
Financial Arrangements Act 1992. 19
20
Note--
21
The office is a public service office under the Public Service Act 1996.
s 177 98 s 181
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Part 3 Chief executive officer 1
177 Appointment of chief executive officer 2
(1) There is to be a chief executive officer of the office. 3
(2) The chief executive is to be appointed by the Governor in 4
Council. 5
(3) The chief executive is appointed for the term stated in the 6
instrument of appointment. 7
(4) The stated term must not be more than 5 years. 8
(5) The Public Service Act 1996 does not apply to the 9
appointment of the chief executive. 10
178 Conditions of appointment 11
(1) The chief executive is to be paid the remuneration and 12
allowances decided by the Governor in Council. 13
(2) The chief executive holds office on terms, not provided for by 14
this Act, decided by the Governor in Council. 15
179 Function of chief executive 16
Subject to direction by the commission, the chief executive is 17
to control the office and is responsible for its efficient and 18
effective administration and operation. 19
180 Chief executive must act independently etc. 20
In performing the chief executive's function and exercising 21
the chief executive's powers-- 22
(a) the chief executive must act independently, impartially, 23
and in the public interest; and 24
(b) is not subject to direction by the Minister. 25
181 Delegation by chief executive 26
(1) The chief executive may delegate the chief executive's 27
functions, including a function delegated to the chief 28
s 182 99 s 184
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
executive by the commission, to an appropriately qualified 1
commission officer. 2
(2) In this section-- 3
appropriately qualified includes having the qualifications, 4
experience or standing appropriate for the function. 5
6
Example of standing for a commission officer--
7
the officer's classification level in the office
functions includes powers. 8
182 Resignation 9
The chief executive may resign by signed notice given to the 10
Minister. 11
183 Ending of appointment 12
The Governor in Council may end the appointment of the 13
chief executive if the chief executive-- 14
(a) is convicted of an indictable offence; or 15
(b) is guilty of misconduct that could warrant dismissal 16
from the public service if the chief executive were a 17
public service officer; or 18
(c) is guilty of neglect of duty or incompetence; or 19
(d) becomes incapable of satisfactorily performing the chief 20
executive's functions. 21
184 Acting chief executive 22
The Minister may appoint a person to act as the chief 23
executive-- 24
(a) during a vacancy in that office; or 25
(b) during any period, or during all periods, when the chief 26
executive is absent from duty or can not, for another 27
reason, perform the functions of that office. 28
s 185 100 s 187
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
185 Preservation of rights 1
(1) This section applies if a public service officer is appointed as 2
the chief executive. 3
(2) The person retains all rights that have accrued to the person 4
because of employment as a public service officer, or that 5
would accrue in the future to the person because of that 6
employment, as if service as the chief executive were a 7
continuation of service as a public service officer. 8
(3) If the person stops being the chief executive and again 9
becomes a public service officer, the person's service as chief 10
executive is to be regarded as service of a similar kind in the 11
public service for the purpose of determining the person's 12
rights as a public service officer. 13
186 Superannuation for chief executive who was previously a 14
public service officer 15
(1) This section applies if a public service officer is appointed as 16
the chief executive and immediately before the appointment 17
the public service officer was a member of the State Public 18
Sector Superannuation Scheme under the Superannuation 19
(State Public Sector) Act 1990. 20
(2) The person continues to be eligible to be, and to be, a member 21
of the scheme. 22
Part 4 Other staff of the office 23
187 Other commission staff 24
The other staff of the office are to be employed under the 25
Public Service Act 1996. 26
s 188 101 s 190
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 12 Registration boards 1
188 Information from registration board 2
(1) A registration board may give the commission information, 3
comment and recommendations in relation to a health 4
complaint and the registered provider to whom the complaint 5
relates. 6
(2) The commission may, at any time, ask a registration board to 7
provide information in its possession in relation to a health 8
complaint or a registered provider to whom the complaint 9
relates. 10
(3) The registration board must comply with the commission's 11
request. 12
189 Registration board may ask commission for information 13
(1) A registration board may at any time ask the commission for 14
information about any complaints made to the commission 15
about the registration board's registered providers. 16
(2) The commission must comply with the registration board's 17
request as soon as practicable. 18
190 Commission may intervene in disciplinary proceedings 19
(1) This section applies if a disciplinary proceeding is taken 20
against a registered provider for a matter because of a health 21
complaint or an inquiry matter and the proceeding is before a 22
disciplinary body. 23
(2) The commission may intervene in the disciplinary proceeding 24
at any time. 25
(3) On intervention, the commission becomes a party to the 26
proceeding. 27
(4) If the commission intervenes in a proceeding before the 28
Health Practitioners Tribunal or the Nursing Tribunal, the 29
commission may be represented by a lawyer or another 30
person. 31
s 191 102 s 192
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(5) If the commission intervenes in a proceeding before a 1
registration board or professional conduct review panel, the 2
commission may nominate a person, other than a lawyer, to 3
appear at the hearing on behalf of the commission. 4
(6) The commission may intervene in an appeal against a decision 5
of a disciplinary body. 6
(7) On intervention in an appeal, the commission becomes a party 7
to the appeal. 8
Chapter 13 Offences and proceedings 9
191 False or misleading statements 10
A person must not state anything to the commission, a 11
commission member or an authorised person the person 12
knows is false or misleading in a material particular. 13
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 14
192 False or misleading records 15
(1) A person must not give the commission, a commission 16
member or an authorised person a record containing 17
information the person knows is false or misleading in a 18
material particular. 19
Maximum penalty--100 penalty units. 20
(2) Subsection (1) does not apply to a person if the person, when 21
giving the record-- 22
(a) tells the commission, commission member or authorised 23
person, to the best of the person's ability, how it is false 24
or misleading; and 25
(b) if the person has, or can reasonably obtain, the correct 26
information, gives the correct information. 27
s 193 103 s 195
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
193 Reprisal and grounds for reprisals 1
(1) A person must not cause, or attempt or conspire to cause, 2
detriment to another person because, or in the belief that-- 3
(a) any person-- 4
(i) has made or may make a health complaint; or 5
(ii) has provided or may provide assistance to the 6
commission, a commission member or an 7
authorised person; or 8
(b) any person-- 9
(i) has made a health service complaint under the 10
repealed Act; or 11
(ii) has provided assistance to the Health Rights 12
Commissioner or an authorised person under the 13
repealed Act. 14
(2) An attempt to cause detriment includes an attempt to induce a 15
person to cause detriment. 16
(3) A contravention of subsection (1) is a reprisal or the taking of 17
a reprisal. 18
(4) A ground mentioned in subsection (1) as the ground for a 19
reprisal is the unlawful ground for the reprisal. 20
(5) For the contravention mentioned in subsection (3) to happen, 21
it is sufficient if the unlawful ground is a substantial ground 22
for the act or omission that is the reprisal, even if there is 23
another ground for the act or omission. 24
194 Offence for taking reprisal 25
(1) A person who takes a reprisal commits an offence. 26
Maximum penalty--167 penalty units or 2 years 27
imprisonment. 28
(2) The offence is an indictable offence that is a misdemeanour. 29
195 Damages entitlement for reprisal 30
(1) A reprisal is a tort and a person who takes a reprisal is liable in 31
damages to any person who suffers detriment as a result. 32
s 196 104 s 198
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) Any appropriate remedy that may be granted by a court for a 1
tort may be granted by a court for the taking of a reprisal. 2
(3) If the claim for damages goes to trial in the Supreme Court or 3
the District Court, it must be decided by a judge sitting 4
without a jury. 5
196 Summary offences 6
An offence against this Act, other than an offence against 7
section 194, is a summary offence. 8
197 Limitation on time for starting proceedings for summary 9
offence 10
A summary proceeding under the Justices Act 1886 for a 11
summary offence must start within whichever is the longer of 12
the following-- 13
(a) 1 year after the commission of the offence; 14
(b) 1 year after the offence comes to the knowledge of the 15
complainant, but within 2 years after the commission of 16
the offence. 17
198 Proceedings for indictable offences 18
(1) A proceeding on a charge for an indictable offence against 19
this Act may be taken, at the election of the prosecution-- 20
(a) by way of summary proceeding under the Justices Act 21
1886; or 22
(b) on indictment. 23
24
Note--
25
An offence against section 194 is an indictable offence.
(2) A magistrate must not hear the charge summarily if-- 26
(a) the defendant asks at the start of the hearing that the 27
charge be prosecuted on indictment; or 28
(b) the magistrate considers the charge should be 29
prosecuted on indictment. 30
(3) If subsection (2) applies-- 31
s 199 105 s 200
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(a) the magistrate must proceed by way of an examination 1
of witnesses for an indictable offence; and 2
(b) a plea of the person charged at the start of the 3
proceeding must be disregarded; and 4
(c) evidence brought in the proceeding before the 5
magistrate decided to act under subsection (2) is taken to 6
be evidence in the proceeding for the committal of the 7
person for trial or sentence; and 8
(d) before committing the person for trial or sentence, the 9
magistrate must make a statement to the person as 10
required by the Justices Act 1886, section 104(2)(b).48 11
199 Limitation on who may summarily hear indictable offence 12
(1) The proceeding must be before a magistrate if it is a 13
proceeding-- 14
(a) for the summary conviction of a person on a charge for 15
an indictable offence; or 16
(b) for an examination of witnesses for a charge for an 17
indictable offence. 18
(2) However, if the proceeding is brought before a justice who is 19
not a magistrate, jurisdiction is limited to taking or making a 20
procedural action or order within the meaning of the Justices 21
of the Peace and Commissioners for Declarations Act 1991. 22
200 Allegations of false or misleading information or records 23
In a proceeding for an offence against this Act defined as 24
involving false or misleading information, or a false or 25
misleading record, it is enough for a charge to state that the 26
information or record was, without specifying which, `false or 27
misleading'. 28
48 Justices Act 1886, section 104 (Proceedings upon an examination of witnesses in
relation to an indictable offence)
s 201 106 s 203
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
201 Appointments and authority 1
In a proceeding, the following must be presumed unless a 2
party to the proceeding, by reasonable notice, requires proof 3
of it-- 4
(a) a commission member's, presiding member's or inquiry 5
member's appointment; 6
(b) the appointment of a person as an authorised person; 7
(c) the authority of a commission member, presiding 8
member, inquiry member or authorised person to do 9
anything under this Act. 10
202 Signatures 11
A signature purporting to be the signature of a commission 12
member, presiding member, inquiry member or authorised 13
person is evidence of the signature it purports to be. 14
203 Other evidentiary aids 15
(1) In a proceeding, a certificate purporting to be that of the 16
commissioner stating any of the following matters is evidence 17
of the matter-- 18
(a) a stated document is an appointment or notice made or 19
given under this Act; 20
(b) a stated record is a record given to the commission or an 21
authorised person under this Act; 22
(c) a stated document or record is a copy of a document or 23
record mentioned in paragraph (a) or (b); 24
(d) on a stated day or during a stated period an appointment 25
as an authorised person was or was not in force for a 26
stated person; 27
(e) on a stated day, a stated requirement was made of a 28
stated person. 29
(2) A statement in a complaint for an offence against this Act that 30
the matter of the complaint came to the knowledge of the 31
complainant on a stated day is evidence of when the matter 32
came to the complainant's knowledge. 33
s 204 107 s 206
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 14 Other matters 1
204 Verifying information 2
For the purpose of a duty imposed by this Act on a person to 3
take an oath to verify information, the oath the person must 4
take is an oath that the information is true. 5
205 Response to adverse comments in commission report 6
(1) This section applies to a report of the commission under 7
section 24(1)(b), 91 or 173 or the commission's annual report 8
mentioned in section 172.49 9
(2) The commission must not include in the report comment 10
adverse to an entity identifiable from the report unless the 11
commission has given the entity a reasonable opportunity 12
to-- 13
(a) make submissions to the commission about the 14
comment; and 15
(b) give a written statement to the commission about the 16
comment. 17
(3) If the entity gives a written statement to the commission under 18
subsection (2)(b) and asks that the statement be included in 19
the report, the commission must include the statement, or a 20
fair summary of the statement, in the report. 21
(4) However, for a report under section 24(1)(b) or 91, subsection 22
(2) is subject to section 206. 23
206 Dispensing with notice or opportunity to make 24
submissions 25
(1) The commission may, in the circumstances mentioned in 26
subsection (2), dispense with a duty imposed on the 27
commission under this Act-- 28
(a) to give a notice to a provider; or 29
49 Section 24 (Action by commission for contravention of s 20(1)), 91 (Commission's
report about investigation), 172 (Annual report) and 173 (Special report)
s 207 108 s 208
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(b) to give an opportunity to an entity to make submissions 1
on a report containing adverse comment about the 2
entity. 3
(2) For subsection (1), the circumstances are that the commission 4
reasonably considers giving the notice or the opportunity to 5
make submissions would-- 6
(a) put at serious risk the health or safety of a person; or 7
(b) put a complainant or other person at risk of being 8
harassed or intimidated; or 9
(c) prejudice an investigation or inquiry. 10
(3) Subsection (1) does not apply in relation to the duty imposed 11
by section 205 in relation to the commission's annual report 12
mentioned in section 172 or a report under section 173. 13
207 Commission may give combined notice 14
(1) This section applies if the commission is required to, or may, 15
give a person notices under more than 1 provision of this Act. 16
(2) The commission may give the person a combined notice for 17
the provisions. 18
208 Failure by commission to give notice or make 19
assessment 20
(1) Subsection (2) applies if the commission fails to give a notice 21
as required by section 54(1), 60(1), 66(5), 76(6), 80(4) or 22
81(6).50 23
(2) The requirement to give the notice continues subject to 24
section 206 and the failure does not limit the commission in 25
performing its functions or exercising its powers. 26
(3) Subsection (4) applies if the commission fails to assess a 27
health service complaint within the time required under 28
section 58. 29
50 Section 54 (Notice of decision to assess health service complaint), 60 (Notice of
assessment decision), 66 (Referral to registration board in public interest), 76
(Action by commission on becoming aware of public interest issue), 80 (Action on
report of unsuccessful conciliation) or 81 (Ending conciliation by commission)
s 209 109 s 212
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(4) The commission must assess the complaint and the failure 1
does not limit the commission in performing its functions or 2
exercising its powers. 3
209 Form of consultation between commission and 4
registration board 5
(1) This section applies for consultation between the commission 6
and a registration board required under section 57(1), 76(2), 7
80(2) or 81(4).51 8
(2) The consultation may be in the form of a standing 9
arrangement or more specific consultation. 10
210 Commission may provide information 11
(1) If the commission refers a health complaint to a registration 12
board or other entity under chapter 5 or 7, the commission 13
may give the board or other entity any information given to, 14
or gathered by, the commission in the course of dealing with 15
the complaint. 16
(2) However, subsection (1) does not apply to information 17
obtained by the commission under chapter 6.52 18
211 Investigation etc. despite proceedings 19
An investigation or inquiry under this Act may start or 20
continue, and a report under this Act may be prepared or 21
given, despite any proceedings before any court or tribunal, 22
unless a court or tribunal of competent jurisdiction orders 23
otherwise. 24
212 Giving of information protected 25
(1) This section applies to a person who, honestly and on 26
reasonable grounds, gives information or a record (the 27
51 Section 57 (Consultation with registration board), 76 (Action by commission on
becoming aware of public interest issue), 80 (Action on report of unsuccessful
conciliation) or 81 (Ending conciliation by commission)
52 Chapters 5 (Health complaints), 6 (Conciliation) and 7 (Investigations by
commission)
s 213 110 s 213
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
information) to the commission, a commission member, an 1
authorised person or a commission officer-- 2
(a) for the purpose of a health complaint; or 3
(b) in the course of an investigation or inquiry; or 4
(c) otherwise under this Act. 5
(2) The person is not subject to any liability for giving the 6
information and no action, claim or demand may be taken or 7
made of or against the person for giving the information. 8
(3) Also, merely because the person gives the information, the 9
person can not be held to have-- 10
(a) breached any code of professional etiquette or ethics; or 11
(b) departed from accepted standards of professional 12
conduct. 13
(4) Without limiting subsections (2) and (3)-- 14
(a) in a proceeding for defamation, the person has a defence 15
of absolute privilege for publishing the information; and 16
(b) if the person would otherwise be required to maintain 17
confidentiality about the information under an Act, oath 18
or rule of law or practice, the person-- 19
(i) does not contravene the Act, oath or rule of law or 20
practice by giving the information; and 21
(ii) is not liable to disciplinary action for giving the 22
information. 23
213 Reports privileged 24
A person has a defence of absolute privilege for the 25
publication of any defamatory statement made in good faith-- 26
(a) for the purpose of the preparation of a report authorised 27
or required to be made under this Act; or 28
(b) in a report authorised or required to be made under this 29
Act. 30
s 214 111 s 214
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
214 Preservation of confidentiality 1
(1) A person must not record, disclose or use confidential 2
information gained by the person through involvement in the 3
administration of this Act or the repealed Act, unless the 4
person does so-- 5
(a) for the purpose of this Act or the repealed Act; or 6
(b) when authorised under an Act; or 7
(c) if the confidential information is about a registered 8
provider--for the purposes of the Health Practitioners 9
(Professional Standards) Act 1999 or the Nursing Act 10
1992; or 11
(d) when authorised under a regulation. 12
Maximum penalty--40 penalty units. 13
(2) A person is not required-- 14
(a) to disclose confidential information to a court or 15
tribunal; or 16
(b) to produce a record containing confidential information 17
to a court or tribunal; 18
unless it is necessary to do so for the purpose of this Act. 19
(3) However, subsection (2) does not apply to the disclosure of 20
confidential information, or production of a record, to a 21
disciplinary body. 22
(4) A person gains information through involvement in the 23
administration of this Act or the repealed Act if the person 24
gains the information-- 25
(a) in the course of the involvement; or 26
(b) because of opportunity provided by the involvement. 27
(5) The following persons are taken to be involved in the 28
administration of this Act-- 29
(a) a commission member or authorised person; 30
(b) a commission officer or a person engaged to perform a 31
service for the commission; 32
(c) a member of a committee established under section 169; 33
s 214 112 s 214
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(d) a conciliator and a person involved in conciliation under 1
this Act. 2
(6) The following persons are taken to have been involved in the 3
administration of the repealed Act-- 4
(a) the Health Rights Commissioner or an authorised 5
person under that Act; 6
(b) an officer or employee of the Health Rights Commission 7
or a person engaged to perform a service for that 8
commission; 9
(c) a member of the council under that Act; 10
(d) a member of a committee established under section 26 11
of that Act; 12
(e) a conciliator and a person involved in conciliation under 13
that Act; 14
(f) a person who investigated a matter under that Act. 15
(7) In so far as this section relates to the repealed Act, a reference 16
in subsection (9), definition confidential information, to a 17
complainant, user, provider, health service complaint, inquiry 18
matter, investigation or inquiry includes a reference to the 19
term under that Act. 20
(8) This section does not limit section 82 or 83.53 21
(9) In this section-- 22
confidential information includes-- 23
(a) information about the identity, occupation or 24
whereabouts of the complainant, user or provider to 25
which a health complaint or inquiry matter relates or of 26
any person who assists an investigation or inquiry; and 27
(b) information disclosed by a health complaint; and 28
(c) information of personal concern to an individual; and 29
(d) information that, if disclosed, may cause detriment to a 30
person. 31
53 Section 82 (Conciliation privileged) or 83 (Confidentiality of conciliation)
s 215 113 s 217
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
215 Protecting officials from liability 1
(1) An official is not civilly liable for an act done, or omission 2
made, honestly and without negligence under this Act. 3
(2) If subsection (1) prevents a civil liability attaching to an 4
official, the liability attaches instead to the commission. 5
(3) In this section-- 6
official means-- 7
(a) a commission member; or 8
(b) a commission officer or a person engaged to perform a 9
service for the commission; or 10
(c) a member of a committee established under section 11
169;54 or 12
(d) an authorised person; or 13
(e) a person acting under the direction or authority of an 14
authorised person. 15
216 Review by committee of the Legislative Assembly 16
It is Parliament's intention that, as soon as practicable after 1 17
year after the commencement of section 11,55 the Legislative 18
Assembly establish a committee to review and report on the 19
performance of the commission and generally on the 20
operation of this Act. 21
217 Regulations 22
The Governor in Council may make regulations under this 23
Act. 24
54 Section 169 (Committees)
55 Section 11 (Establishment of commission)
s 218 114 s 221
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Chapter 15 Repeal and transitional 1
provisions 2
Part 1 Repeal 3
218 Repeal of Health Rights Commission Act 1991 4
The Health Rights Commission Act 1991 No. 88 is repealed. 5
Part 2 Transitional provisions 6
219 Definitions for pt 2 7
In this part-- 8
commencement means the commencement of this part. 9
former commission means the Health Rights Commission 10
under the repealed Act. 11
former commissioner means the Health Rights Commissioner 12
under the repealed Act. 13
220 References to repealed Act or former commission 14
(1) In an Act or document, a reference to the repealed Act may, if 15
the context permits, be taken as a reference to this Act. 16
(2) In an Act or document, a reference to the former commission 17
may, if the context permits, be taken as a reference to the 18
commission. 19
221 Assets and liabilities etc. 20
On the commencement-- 21
(a) the assets and liabilities of the former commissioner 22
become assets and liabilities of the commission; and 23
s 222 115 s 224
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(b) any contracts entered into by the former commissioner, 1
in force immediately before the commencement, are 2
taken to have been entered into by the commission and 3
may be enforced against or by the commission. 4
222 Officers of former commission 5
A person who was an officer of the former commission 6
immediately before the commencement continues as a 7
commission officer. 8
223 Former commission's records 9
All records of the former commission become records of the 10
commission and may be used by the commission for this Act. 11
224 Proceedings 12
(1) A proceeding that could have been started or continued by or 13
against the former commissioner before the commencement 14
may be started or continued by or against the commission. 15
(2) For a proceeding under the repealed Act, section 121 or 122,56 16
the judge deciding the proceeding may make the orders the 17
judge considers necessary under the repealed Act as if this Act 18
had not commenced. 19
(3) An order mentioned in subsection (2) has effect for this Act 20
despite any other provision of this Act. 21
(4) If, immediately before the commencement, the former 22
commissioner was a party to a proceeding under the repealed 23
Act, section 130,57 the commission becomes a party in place 24
of the former commissioner. 25
56 Health Rights Commission Act 1991, section 121 (Witness privilege) or 122 (Claim
of unjustifiable exercise of power)
57 Health Rights Commission Act 1991, section 130 (Commissioner may intervene in
disciplinary proceedings)
s 225 116 s 225
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
225 Health service complaints 1
(1) This section applies to a health service complaint made to the 2
former commissioner under the repealed Act and not finally 3
dealt with before the commencement. 4
(2) The health service complaint is taken to have been made to 5
the commission and may be dealt with or further dealt with by 6
the commission or another entity under this Act. 7
(3) Without limiting subsection (2)-- 8
(a) action taken in relation to the health service complaint 9
by the former commissioner is taken to have been taken 10
by the commission; and 11
(b) an assessment of the complaint may be continued or 12
started under this Act; and 13
(c) a conciliation of the health service complaint may be 14
started or continued under this Act; and 15
(d) if the complaint was referred to a registration board or 16
other entity under the repealed Act, the referral is taken 17
to have happened under this Act; and 18
(e) a notice given by the commissioner under the repealed 19
Act, section 70 or 9658 is taken to have been given by the 20
commission under section 55 or an authorised person 21
under section 123;59 and 22
(f) an investigation of the complaint may be continued or 23
started under this Act. 24
(4) For continuing and finalising a conciliation under subsection 25
(3)(c), the person conciliating the health service complaint 26
under the repealed Act is taken to be a conciliator under this 27
Act. 28
58 Health Rights Commission Act 1991, section 70 (Submissions about health service
complaint) or 96 (Notice to provide information or a record)
59 Section 55 (Submissions about health service complaint) or 123 (Power to require
information or attendance)
s 226 117 s 229
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
226 Direction of Minister given under repealed Act 1
(1) Subsection (2) applies if the former commissioner was given a 2
direction under the repealed Act, section 3160 and, 3
immediately before the commencement, the direction had not 4
been complied with. 5
(2) The commission must comply with the direction by acting 6
under this Act and for that purpose this Act applies with any 7
necessary or convenient changes. 8
227 Offences 9
(1) Proceedings for an offence against the repealed Act may be 10
continued, or started by the commission, and the provisions of 11
the repealed Act necessary or convenient to be used in relation 12
to the proceedings continue to apply, as if this Act had not 13
commenced. 14
(2) For subsection (1), the Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 15
2061 applies, but does not limit the subsection. 16
228 Things seized 17
A thing seized under the repealed Act, and in relation to 18
which proceedings were not finalised or started immediately 19
before the commencement, is taken to have been properly 20
seized under this Act. 21
229 Former commission's annual report for 2005-2006 22
(1) The commission must prepare the annual report required 23
under the Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, 24
section 46J,62 and otherwise comply with the former 25
commission's obligations under the section, in relation to the 26
operations of the former commission for the financial year 27
ending on 30 June 2006. 28
60 Health Rights Commission Act 1991, section 31 (Minister's directions)
61 Acts Interpretation Act 1954, section 20 (Saving of operation of repealed Act etc.)
62 Financial Administration and Audit Act 1977, section 46J (Annual report)
s 230 118 s 232
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
(2) The annual report must be prepared so as to comply with the 1
repealed Act, sections 34 and 36.63 2
230 Amendment of regulation by Act 3
The amendment of a regulation in schedule 3 does not affect 4
the power of the Governor in Council to further amend the 5
regulation or to repeal it. 6
231 Transitional regulation-making power 7
(1) A regulation (a transitional regulation) may make provision 8
for a matter for which-- 9
(a) it is necessary to make provision to allow or facilitate 10
the doing of anything to achieve the transition from the 11
operation of the repealed Act to the operation of this 12
Act; and 13
(b) this Act does not make provision or sufficient provision. 14
(2) A transitional regulation may have retrospective operation to a 15
day not earlier than the commencement. 16
(3) A transitional regulation must declare it is a transitional 17
regulation. 18
(4) This section and any transitional regulation expire 1 year after 19
the commencement. 20
Chapter 16 Amendment of Health 21
Services Act 1991 22
232 Act amended in ch 16 23
This chapter amends the Health Services Act 1991. 24
63 Health Rights Commission Act 1991, sections 34 (Annual report) and 36 (Response
to adverse comment)
s 233 119 s 235
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
233 Amendment of s 2 (Definitions) 1
(1) Section 2-- 2
insert-- 3
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission means the 4
Health Quality and Complaints Commission established 5
under the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 6
2006.'. 7
(2) Section 2, definition health services agreement, `chief 8
executive'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`general manager of the health service area in which the 11
district is situated'. 12
234 Amendment of s 10 (Appointment of members) 13
Section 10(2)-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`(2) The Minister must recommend to the Governor in Council for 16
appointment as members of a council persons nominated as 17
suitable for appointment by the Health Quality and 18
Complaints Commission. 19
20
Note--
21
It is a function of the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under
22
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, section
23
16(d), to nominate to the Minister persons it considers suitable for
24
appointment as members of councils.'.
235 Amendment of s 17 (Times and places of meetings) 25
Section 17(1), `2 months'-- 26
omit, insert-- 27
`month'. 28
s 236 120 s 239
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
236 Amendment of s 22 (Managers for districts) 1
(1) Section 22(2), `public service officer or'-- 2
omit. 3
(2) Section 22(3)(a), `the chief executive and'-- 4
omit. 5
237 Insertion of new s 23A 6
Part 2, after section 23-- 7
insert-- 8
`23A Tabling of council reports 9
`(1) This section applies to a report for a financial year given to the 10
Minister by a council under section 8(1)(i). 11
`(2) The Minister must table the report in the Legislative 12
Assembly within 2 months of the end of the financial year.'. 13
238 Amendment of s 24 (Appointment of health service 14
employees) 15
(1) Section 24(1), from `the department'-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`an administrative unit of the department prescribed under a 18
regulation.'. 19
(2) Section 24(2)-- 20
omit. 21
(3) Section 24(3)-- 22
renumber as section 24(2). 23
239 Insertion of new s 62LA 24
After section 62L-- 25
insert-- 26
s 240 121 s 240
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
`62LA Disclosure to Health Quality and Complaints 1
Commission 2
Section 62A(1) does not apply to the disclosure of 3
confidential information by a designated person if the 4
disclosure is to the Health Quality and Complaints 5
Commission for the purpose of-- 6
(a) making, or giving information about, a complaint about 7
a provider of health services; or 8
(b) answering questions or otherwise giving information as 9
part of an investigation under the Health Quality and 10
Complaints Commission Act 2006 about a person who is 11
or was a provider of health services; or 12
(c) giving the commission information about health 13
services including information requested by the 14
commission under the Health Quality and Complaints 15
Commission Act 2006, section 21;64 or 16
(d) giving the commission aggregated data, including data 17
that identifies persons, about complaint management, 18
patient safety or another matter relating to the quality of 19
health services.'. 20
240 Insertion of new pt 9, div 6 21
Part 9-- 22
insert-- 23
`Division 6 Transitional provisions for Health 24
Quality and Complaints 25
Commission Act 2006 26
`83 Existing members of district health councils 27
`(1) This section applies to a member of a district health council 28
holding office immediately before the commencement of this 29
section under an appointment made before that 30
commencement. 31
64 Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, section 21 (Commission may
ask provider for information)
s 241 122 s 241
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
`(2) The member stops being a member under that appointment. 1
`(3) The member is not entitled to compensation for the loss of 2
office.'. 3
Chapter 17 Amendment of other 4
legislation 5
241 Amendment of legislation 6
(1) Schedule 3 amends the Acts and regulations it mentions. 7
(2) Schedule 4 amends the Acts it mentions. 8
123
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 1 Health services 1
section 8(a) 2
Part 1 Declared health services 3
1 Hospital, health institution or nursing home services. 4
2 Medical, dental, pharmaceutical, paramedical, mental health, 5
community health, environmental health, specialised health or 6
allied services. 7
3 Services provided in association with the use of premises for 8
the care, treatment or accommodation of persons who are 9
aged or have a physical or mental illness. 10
4 Laboratory services provided in support of health services. 11
5 Laundry, cleaning, catering or other support services provided 12
to a hospital, health institution, nursing home or premises 13
mentioned in item 3, if the services affect the care or 14
treatment of patients or residents. 15
6 Social work, welfare, recreational or leisure services, if 16
provided as part of a health service. 17
7 Ambulance services. 18
8 Services provided by registered providers. 19
9 Services provided by dietitians, audiologists, audiometrists, 20
prosthetists, optical dispensers, child guidance therapists, 21
psychotherapists, therapeutic counsellors and services 22
provided by other professional, technical and operational 23
persons that directly contribute to the provision of a health 24
service. 25
10 Services provided by practitioners of hypnosis, massage, 26
naturopathy, acupuncture or in other natural or alternative 27
health care or diagnostic fields. 28
11 Services provided in relation to health promotion, education 29
and information. 30
124
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 1 (continued)
Part 2 Services declared not to be 1
health services 2
1 An opinion of a provider, or a decision made, for a claim 3
under the Workers' Compensation and Rehabilitation Act 4
2003. 5
2 An opinion of a provider, or a decision made, for the purpose 6
of a notice, order, or appeal under the Workplace Health and 7
Safety Act 1995. 8
3 Services provided by an officer of a department (other than 9
the department in which this Act is administered), excluding 10
services provided by an officer who-- 11
(a) is a registered provider; and 12
(b) provides the services in the course of performing duties 13
in a position for which registration as a registered 14
provider of that type is a requirement. 15
4 Services provided by the State Emergency Service and by 16
volunteers in emergency situations, including first aid and life 17
support services, for example services provided by lifesavers, 18
coastal rescue groups, teachers, teachers aides and school 19
administrative staff. 20
5 Health services provided by a public authority of the 21
Commonwealth. 22
125
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 2 Registration boards 1
schedule 5, definition registration board 2
1 Chiropractors Board of Queensland 3
2 Dental Board of Queensland 4
3 Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists Board of 5
Queensland 6
4 Medical Board of Queensland 7
5 Medical Radiation Technologists Board of Queensland 8
6 Occupational Therapists Board of Queensland 9
7 Optometrists Board of Queensland 10
8 Osteopaths Board of Queensland 11
9 Pharmacists Board of Queensland 12
10 Physiotherapists Board of Queensland 13
11 Podiatrists Board of Queensland 14
12 Psychologists Board of Queensland 15
13 Queensland Nursing Council 16
14 Speech Pathologists Board of Queensland 17
126
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 Consequential amendments 1
section 241(1) 2
Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 2003 3
1 Part 7-- 4
insert-- 5
`48C Registrar may enter into arrangement with commission 6
`(1) The registrar may enter into an arrangement with the 7
commission about providing to the commission information 8
from a register or a source document, or providing to the 9
commission a copy of a source document, about the death of a 10
person to which an investigation under the Health Quality and 11
Complaints Commission Act 2006 may be relevant. 12
`(2) The registrar may provide information or a copy of a source 13
document to the commission under the arrangement. 14
`(3) The registrar and the commission must, as far as practicable, 15
protect the person to whom the information or source 16
document relates from unjustified intrusion on the person's 17
privacy. 18
`(4) If the registrar enters into an arrangement with the 19
commission, the registrar may charge a fee for the service that 20
is not more than the actual cost of providing the service. 21
`(5) This section applies despite sections 44 to 46 and 48. 22
`(6) In this section-- 23
commission, means the Health Quality and Complaints 24
Commission established under the Health Quality and 25
Complaints Commission Act 2006. 26
source document has the same meaning as in section 44(1)(b) 27
but does not include a source document prescribed under a 28
regulation for that paragraph.'. 29
127
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Chiropractors Registration Act 2001 1
1 Section 120(3)(h)-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 4
Commission for Children and Young People and Child 5
Guardian Act 2000 6
1 Schedule 4, definition complaints agency, paragraph 7
(d)-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`(d) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under 10
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 11
2006;'. 12
Coroners Act 2003 13
1 Section 17(3)(a), example-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`Example-- 16
17
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006,
18
section 213(2) (Preservation of confidentiality)'.
128
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
2 Section 17(3)(b), example-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`Example-- 3
4
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006,
5
section 82 (Conciliation privileged)'.
Criminal Code 6
1 Section 229O(1), definition health service, `schedule 1, 7
part 1 of the Health Rights Commission Act 1991'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, 10
schedule 1, part 1'. 11
2 Section 229O(1), definition health services provider, 12
`Health Rights Commission Act 1991'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006'. 15
Dental Practitioners Registration Act 2001 16
1 Section 139(3)(h)-- 17
omit, insert-- 18
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 19
129
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists 1
Registration Act 2001 2
1 Section 124(3)(h)-- 3
omit, insert-- 4
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 5
Disability Services Act 2006 6
1 Schedule 7, definition complaints agency, paragraph 7
(d)-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`(d) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under 10
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 11
2006;'. 12
Evidence Regulation 1993 13
1 Section 3(p)-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`(p) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission, a 16
commission member, the chief executive officer or a 17
conciliator under the Health Quality and Complaints 18
Commission Act 2006, in relation to the conciliation of a 19
health service complaint under chapter 6 of that Act;'. 20
130
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Freedom of Information Act 1992 1
1 Section 11(1)-- 2
insert-- 3
`(pa) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission in 4
relation to the conciliation of health service complaints 5
under-- 6
(i) the Health Rights Commission Act 1991, part 6; or 7
(ii) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission 8
Act 2006, chapter 6; or'. 9
Health Practitioners (Professional Standards) Act 10
1999 11
1 Section 5, heading, `Health Rights Commission Act'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act'. 14
2 Sections 5, 6, 52 and 53, `Health Rights Commission Act 15
1991'-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006'. 18
3 Section 11(c), `an imminent threat'-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`a serious potential risk'. 21
131
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
4 Sections 11, 51, 52, 53, 55(1), 56(3), 57(1), 59(4), 116, 1
120(1), 126(3)(b)(iv), 131(1)(c), 134(5)(c), 135(6)(c), 2
150(2)(c), 153(1)(c), 168(1)(c), 174(1)(d), 178(6)(c), 3
205(1)(c), 215(1)(d), 245(1)(c), 251(1)(c), 264(1), 289(2)(b), 4
304, 311, 312(3), 318(1)(b), 328(1), 336(3), 340(1)(b), 350(1), 5
374(2)(a), 379(5) and 383 heading and (2), 6
`commissioner'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`commission'. 9
5 Section 48(2)-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`(2) Also, a complaint may be made about a matter for which a 12
health service complaint could be made under the Health 13
Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006.'. 14
6 Section 51(2), before paragraph (b)-- 15
insert-- 16
`(aa) the board rejects the complaint under section 54(1AA); 17
or'. 18
7 Part 3, division 3, subdivision 2, heading, 19
`commissioner'-- 20
omit, insert-- 21
`commission'. 22
8 Part 3, division 3, before section 54-- 23
insert-- 24
`Subdivision 2A Rejection of complaints'. 25
132
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
9 Section 54, before subsection (1)-- 1
insert-- 2
`(1AA) A board may decide to reject a complaint mentioned in 3
section 51 if the board and the commission agree to reject the 4
complaint for a reason mentioned in subsection (1)(a) to (e).'. 5
10 Section 54(2), `under'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`for a reason mentioned in'. 8
11 Section 58, `imminent threats'-- 9
omit, insert-- 10
`serious potential risks'. 11
12 Section 59(1)(a), `an imminent threat'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`a serious potential risk'. 14
13 Section 62(b)-- 15
omit. 16
14 Section 62(c), from `commissioner' to `this Act,'-- 17
omit, insert-- 18
`commission agree under section 51(2)(a) or (b)'. 19
15 Section 62(c) to (f)-- 20
renumber as-- 21
`section 62(b) to (e).'. 22
133
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
16 Section 116(6)(a), `commissioner's'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`commission's'. 3
17 Section 117-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`117 Commission may report to Minister 6
`(1) The commission may, at any time, give the Minister a report 7
about investigations conducted by boards or a particular 8
investigation. 9
`(2) The commission must not include in the report comment 10
adverse to an entity identifiable from the report unless the 11
entity has been given a reasonable opportunity to-- 12
(a) make submissions to the commission about the 13
comment; and 14
(b) give a written statement to the commission about the 15
comment. 16
`(3) If the entity that provides a written statement under subsection 17
(2)(b) asks that the statement be included in the report, the 18
commission must include the statement, or a fair summary of 19
the statement, in the report.'. 20
18 Section 173(c)-- 21
omit, insert-- 22
`(c) if the commission intervenes in the proceedings under 23
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 24
2006, section 190, the commission.'. 25
134
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
19 Section 214(c)-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`(c) if the commission intervenes in the proceedings under 3
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 4
2006, section 190, the commission.'. 5
20 Section 367B(2), definition relevant person, paragraph 6
(h)-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`(h) a commission member or officer under the Health 9
Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006;'. 10
21 Section 367D(1)(d), after `Health Rights Commission Act 11
1991'-- 12
insert-- 13
`or Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006'. 14
22 Section 383(1)(b)-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`(b) the commission has, under the Health Quality and 17
Complaints Commission Act 2006, section 62(3), 66(3) 18
or 76(3), advised the registrant's board that the 19
commission intends to conciliate, or continue to 20
conciliate, the complaint.'. 21
23 Section 385B(6), after `part 6'-- 22
insert-- 23
`, Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, chapter 24
6'. 25
135
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
24 Section 385B(7), definition, relevant interstate law, 1
`Health Rights Commission Act 1991, part 6'-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, chapter 6'. 4
25 After section 405-- 5
insert-- 6
`Division 3 Provisions for Health Quality and 7
Complaints Commission Act 2006 8
`405A Definitions for div 3 9
`In this division-- 10
commencement means the commencement of the provision in 11
which the term is used. 12
Health Rights Commissioner means the Health Rights 13
Commissioner under the repealed Act. 14
repealed Act means the Health Rights Commission Act 1991. 15
`405B Withdrawal of referred complaint 16
`For section 57, a reference to the commission is taken as a 17
reference to the Health Rights Commissioner if, before the 18
commencement, the complaint was referred to the registrant's 19
board by the Health Rights Commissioner and is withdrawn 20
after the commencement. 21
`405C When investigation must be conducted or continued 22
`(1) This section applies if -- 23
(a) before the commencement -- 24
(i) the Minister who was administering the repealed 25
Act decided, under section 74(7)(b) of that Act, 26
that a complaint about a registrant should be 27
136
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
referred by the Health Rights Commissioner to the 1
registrant's board for investigation; or 2
(ii) a registrant's board and the Health Rights 3
Commissioner agreed under the repealed Act, 4
section 74(2), or under section 51(2)(a) or (b) of 5
this Act, that a complaint about the registrant was 6
to be investigated by the board; and 7
(b) the registrant's board has not started or finished 8
investigating the complaint. 9
`(2) The registrant's board must investigate, or continue to 10
investigate, the registrant. 11
`405D Reports to commission on investigation by board 12
`(1) This section applies if the Health Rights Commissioner was 13
given a report under pre-amended section 116(2) or (3) and 14
had not, before the commencement, given to the board 15
comments under the pre-amended section 116(5). 16
`(2) For section 116(5) and (6), the report is taken to have been 17
given to the commission and to have been received by it when 18
it was received by the Health Rights Commissioner. 19
`(3) In this section-- 20
pre-amended, in relation to a section, means the section as in 21
force immediately before the commencement. 22
`405E Board's annual report 23
`(1) This section applies if a report mentioned in section 264 is to 24
be made for the financial year 2005-2006. 25
`(2) For section 264(1)(a) and (b) a reference to the commission is 26
taken to be a reference to the Health Rights Commissioner. 27
`405F Notice about board decision 28
`For section 304(2)(a), a reference to a complaint made to the 29
commission and referred to the board is taken to include a 30
137
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
reference to a complaint made to the Health Rights 1
Commissioner before the commencement and referred to the 2
board. 3
`405G Copy of undertakings 4
`For section 379(5)(a), a reference to a complaint made to the 5
commission and referred to the board is taken to include a 6
reference to a complaint made to the Health Rights 7
Commissioner before the commencement and referred to the 8
board. 9
`405H Continuing requirement for board to give notice to 10
commission 11
`(1) This section applies if-- 12
(a) a complaint about a registrant is being dealt with by the 13
registrant's board or a disciplinary body under this Act; 14
and 15
(b) before the commencement the Health Rights 16
Commissioner had, under the repealed Act, section 17
74(6), 77(3) or 85(8), advised the registrant's board that 18
the commissioner intended to conciliate, or continue to 19
conciliate, the complaint. 20
`(2) The registrant's board must, as soon as practicable after the 21
registrant's board has finished dealing with the complaint 22
under this Act, give the commission notice that no further 23
action is to be taken about the complaint under this Act.'. 24
26 Schedule, definition commissioner-- 25
omit. 26
27 Schedule-- 27
insert-- 28
`commencement, for part 13, division 3, see section 405A. 29
138
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
commission means the Health Quality and Complaints 1
Commission under the Health Quality and Complaints 2
Commission Act 2006. 3
Health Rights Commissioner see section 405A. 4
repealed Act, for part 13, division 3, see section 405A.'. 5
28 Schedule, definition complainant, paragraph (b)-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`(b) a person or other entity who made a complaint under the 8
Health Rights Commission Act 1991 that was referred to 9
a board by the Health Rights Commissioner; or 10
(c) a person who makes a complaint under the Health 11
Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006 that is 12
referred to a board by the commission.'. 13
Health Practitioners (Special Events Exemption) Act 14
1998 15
1 Section 15(1), `Health Rights Commission Act 1991'-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006'. 18
Industrial Relations Act 1999 19
1 Section 73(2)(f)-- 20
insert-- 21
`(iii) a complaint under the Health Quality and 22
Complaints Commission Act 2006;'. 23
139
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Medical Practitioners Registration Act 2001 1
1 Section 156(3)(h)-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 4
Medical Radiation Technologists Registration Act 5
2001 6
1 Section 135(3)(h)-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 9
Mental Health Act 2000 10
1 Section 349(4)(f)-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`(f) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under 13
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 14
2006;'. 15
Nursing Act 1992 16
1 Section 4, definition commissioner-- 17
omit. 18
140
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
2 Section 4-- 1
insert-- 2
`commencement, for part 9, division 6, see section 156. 3
commission means the Health Quality and Complaints 4
Commission under the Health Quality and Complaints 5
Commission Act 2006. 6
Health Rights Commissioner, for part 9, division 6, see 7
section 156. 8
repealed Act, for part 9, division 6, see section 156.'. 9
3 Sections 66, 67(3A), 68(3), 101A(2)(a), 102A, 102B, 10
103(1)(b), 103A, 104(3), 118(2A), and 118A heading and 11
(2), `commissioner'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`commission'. 14
4 Section 102AA(2)-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`(2) Also, a complaint may be made about a matter for which a 17
health service complaint could be made under the Health 18
Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006.'. 19
5 Section 102B, `Health Rights Commission Act 1991'-- 20
omit, insert-- 21
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006'. 22
6 Section 102C(1)-- 23
omit. 24
7 Section 102C(2) and (3)-- 25
renumber as section 102C(1) and (2). 26
141
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
8 Part 5, division 4A, heading, `commissioner'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`commission'. 3
9 Section 118A(1)(b)-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`(b) the commission has, under the Health Quality and 6
Complaints Commission Act 2006, section 62(3), 66(3) 7
or 76(3), advised the council that the commission 8
intends to conciliate, or continue to conciliate, the 9
complaint.'. 10
10 Section 140B(6), after `part 6'-- 11
insert-- 12
`, Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, chapter 13
6'. 14
11 Section 140B(7), `Health Rights Commission Act 1991, 15
part 6'-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, chapter 6'. 18
12 After section 155-- 19
insert-- 20
`Division 6 Provisions for the Health Quality 21
and Complaints Commission Act 22
2006 23
`156 Definitions for div 6 24
`In this division-- 25
commencement means the commencement of the provision in 26
which the term is used. 27
142
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Health Rights Commissioner means the Health Rights 1
Commissioner under the repealed Act. 2
repealed Act means the Health Rights Commission Act 1991. 3
`157 When investigation must be conducted or continued 4
`(1) This section applies if-- 5
(a) before the commencement-- 6
(i) the Minister who was administering the repealed 7
Act decided, under section 74(7)(b) of that Act, 8
that a complaint about a nurse, midwife or person 9
authorised to practise nursing should be referred by 10
the Health Rights Commissioner to the council; or 11
(ii) the council and the Health Rights Commissioner 12
agreed under the repealed Act, section 74(2)(a), or 13
under section 102A(2)(a) of this Act, that a 14
complaint about a nurse, midwife or person 15
authorised to practise nursing was to be 16
investigated by the council; and 17
(b) the council has not started or finished investigating the 18
complaint. 19
`(2) The council must investigate, or continue to investigate, the 20
nurse, midwife or person authorised to practise nursing. 21
`158 Reports to commission on investigation by council 22
`(1) This section applies if the Health Rights Commissioner was 23
given a report under pre-amended section 103A(1) or (2) and 24
had not, before the commencement, given to the council 25
comments under the pre-amended section 103A(4). 26
`(2) For section 103A(4), the report is taken to have been given to 27
the commission and to have been received by it when it was 28
received by the Health Rights Commissioner. 29
`(3) Also, if, before the commencement, the Health Rights 30
Commissioner gave comments to the council under the 31
pre-amended section 103A(4), the council must have regard to 32
143
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
the comments in making a decision after the commencement 1
about the action it intends to take about the complaint or other 2
matter the subject of the investigation. 3
`(4) In this section-- 4
comments includes information or recommendations. 5
pre-amended, in relation to a section, means the section as in 6
force immediately before the commencement. 7
`159 Continuing requirement for council to give notice to 8
commission 9
`(1) This section applies if-- 10
(a) a complaint about a nurse, midwife or person authorised 11
to practise nursing is being dealt with by the council or 12
tribunal under part 5; and 13
(b) before the commencement the Health Rights 14
Commissioner had, under the repealed Act, section 15
74(6), 77(3) or 85(8), advised the council that the 16
commissioner intended to conciliate, or continue to 17
conciliate, the complaint. 18
`(2) The council must, as soon as practicable after the council or 19
tribunal has finished dealing with the complaint under this 20
Act, give the commission notice that no further action is to be 21
taken about the complaint under this Act.'. 22
Occupational Therapists Registration Act 2001 23
1 Section 120(3)(h)-- 24
omit, insert-- 25
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 26
144
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Ombudsman Act 2001 1
1 Section 16(2)(g), after `1991'-- 2
insert-- 3
`or the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006'. 4
2 Schedule 3, definition complaints entity, examples, third 5
dot point'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`· the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under the Health Quality 8
9
and Complaints Commission Act 2006'.
Optometrists Registration Act 2001 10
1 Section 120(3)(h)-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 13
Osteopaths Registration Act 2001 14
1 Section 120(3)(h)-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 17
145
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Parliament of Queensland Act 2001 1
1 Section 67(1)(j)-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`(j) a commission member under the Health Quality and 4
Complaints Commission Act 2006;'. 5
Personal Injuries Proceedings Act 2002 6
1 Section 9(6), from `if the claimant--'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`if-- 9
(a) the claimant-- 10
(i) has made a health service complaint about the 11
person against whom the proceeding is proposed to 12
be started to the Health Rights Commissioner 13
under the Health Rights Commission Act 1991 14
within the period prescribed for making a 15
complaint under that Act; and 16
(ii) gives part 1 of the notice to the person as soon as 17
practicable after the complaint is finalised under 18
the Health Rights Commission Act 1991 or Health 19
Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006; or 20
(b) the claimant-- 21
(i) has made a health service complaint about the 22
person against whom the proceeding is proposed to 23
be started to the Health Quality and Complaints 24
Commission under the Health Quality and 25
Complaints Commission Act 2006 within the 26
period prescribed for making a complaint under 27
that Act; and 28
146
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
(ii) gives part 1 of the notice to the person as soon as 1
practicable after the complaint is finalised under 2
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission 3
Act 2006.'. 4
2 Section 9A(6A), from `if the claimant--'-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`if-- 7
(a) the claimant-- 8
(i) has made a health service complaint about the 9
person against whom the proceeding is proposed to 10
be started to the Health Rights Commissioner 11
under the Health Rights Commission Act 1991 12
within the period prescribed for making a 13
complaint under that Act; and 14
(ii) gives the initial notice to the person as soon as 15
practicable after the complaint is finalised under 16
the Health Rights Commission Act 1991 or Health 17
Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006; or 18
(b) the claimant-- 19
(i) has made a health service complaint about the 20
person against whom the proceeding is proposed to 21
be started to the Health Quality and Complaints 22
Commission under the Health Quality and 23
Complaints Commission Act 2006 within the 24
period prescribed for making a complaint under 25
that Act; and 26
(ii) gives the initial notice to the person as soon as 27
practicable after the complaint is finalised under 28
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission 29
Act 2006.'. 30
147
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Personal Injuries Proceedings Regulation 2002 1
1 Section 3(8)(e)-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`(e) if the injured person made a complaint to the Heath 4
Rights Commission under the Health Rights 5
Commission Act 1991 or the Health Quality and 6
Complaints Commission under the Health Quality and 7
Complaints Commission Act 2006, about a person 8
alleged to have caused the personal injury-- 9
(i) the date the complaint was made; and 10
(ii) if the complaint was finalised under the Health 11
Rights Commission Act 1991 or the Health Quality 12
and Complaints Commission Act 2006, brief 13
details of how the complaint was dealt with under 14
the relevant Act and the date the complaint was 15
finalised;'. 16
Pharmacists Registration Act 2001 17
1 Section 124(3)(h)-- 18
omit, insert-- 19
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 20
Physiotherapists Registration Act 2001 21
1 Section 120(3)(h)-- 22
omit, insert-- 23
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 24
148
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Podiatrists Registration Act 2001 1
1 Section 120(3)(h)-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 4
Prostitution Act 1999 5
1 Section 135(2), definition health service, paragraph (b)-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`(b) a service specified in the Health Quality and Complaints 8
Commission Act 2006, schedule 1, part 1.'. 9
2 Section 135(2), definition health service provider, 10
paragraph (a), `Health Rights Commission Act 1991'-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006'. 13
Psychologists Registration Act 2001 14
1 Section 136(3)(h)-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 17
149
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Public Health Act 2005 1
1 Section 157(2), definition relevant entity, paragraph (a)-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`(a) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission under 4
the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 5
2006; or'. 6
Public Health (Infection Control for Personal 7
Appearance Services) Act 2003 8
1 Schedule 2, definition health service, `schedule 1, part 1 9
of the Health Rights Commission Act 1991'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006, 12
schedule 1, part 1'. 13
Public Service Act 1996 14
1 Schedule 1, item 5-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`5 Office of the Health Quality Chief executive officer'.
and Complaints
Commission
150
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Public Service Regulation 1997 1
1 Schedule 2, item 13-- 2
omit, insert-- 3
`13 Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 2006 4
a commission member or the chief executive officer'. 5
Residential Services (Accreditation) Act 2002 6
1 Section 177(3), definition prescribed Act, paragraph (b)-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`(b) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission Act 9
2006; or'. 10
Speech Pathologists Registration Act 2001 11
1 Section 120(3)(h)-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`(h) the Health Quality and Complaints Commission;'. 14
151
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 3 (continued)
Statutory Bodies Financial Arrangements Regulation 1
1997 2
Schedule 2, entry for `Health Rights Commission Act
1 3
1991'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`Health Quality and Complaints Health Quality and Complaints
Commission Act 2006 Commission'.
152
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 Other amendments 1
section 241(2) 2
Dental Technicians and Dental Prosthetists 3
Registration Act 2001 4
1 Section 125(1), examples of an individual taking or using 5
a restricted title, `describes'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`describing'. 8
2 Section 125(1), examples of an individual taking or using 9
a restricted title, full stop-- 10
omit. 11
3 Section 125(1), examples of a corporation taking or using 12
a restricted title, `describes'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`describing'. 15
4 Section 125(1), examples of a corporation taking or using 16
a restricted title, full stop-- 17
omit. 18
Health Act 1937 19
1 After section 101A-- 20
insert, as section 102, section 102 of the Health Act 1937 as that 21
Act was in force immediately before the commencement of the 22
153
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
Health Legislation Amendment Act 2005, schedule, amendments of 1
Health Act 1937, amendment 3. 2
Health Practitioners (Professional Standards) Act 3
1999 4
1 Section 289(1), `288(5)'-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`288(4)'. 7
2 Section 331(2)(a), `or could not'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`and could not'. 10
3 Section 400(2) and (3), `part 14'-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`part 14 of this Act as originally enacted'. 13
Health Services Act 1991 14
1 Section 13(1)(b)-- 15
omit, insert-- 16
`(b) is an insolvent under administration within the meaning 17
of the Corporations Act, section 9; or' 18
154
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
2 Section 29(1), at the end of paragraphs (a) and (b)-- 1
insert-- 2
`or'. 3
3 Section 57A, heading, `section 57'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`s 57'. 6
4 Section 68(2), at the end of paragraphs (a) to (g)-- 7
insert-- 8
`or'. 9
5 Section 68(2)(c), at the end of subparagraph (i)-- 10
insert-- 11
`or'. 12
Hospitals Foundations Act 1982 13
1 Section 8(1), at the end of paragraphs (a) to (c)-- 14
insert-- 15
`and'. 16
2 Section 13, `are--'-- 17
omit, insert-- 18
`are the following--'. 19
155
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
3 Section 15(1), `power--'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`the following--'. 3
4 Section 18(3), `and' occurring at the end of paragraphs (a) 4
to (c)-- 5
omit. 6
5 Section 26, at the end of paragraphs (a) and (b)-- 7
insert-- 8
`or'. 9
6 Section 26, paragraph (d)-- 10
renumber as paragraph (c). 11
7 Section 26, `paragraph (d)'-- 12
omit, insert-- 13
`paragraph (c)'. 14
8 Section 27, at the end of paragraph (a)-- 15
insert-- 16
`or'. 17
9 Section 36(2), at the end of paragraph (a)-- 18
insert-- 19
`or'. 20
156
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
10 Section 46(2) and (3), at the end of paragraph (a)-- 1
insert-- 2
`and'. 3
Nursing Act 1992 4
1 Section 43(2), `10,'-- 5
omit. 6
2 Section 72(1), `subsection (2)'-- 7
omit, insert-- 8
`subsection (4)'. 9
3 Section 73, `72(2)'-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`72(4)'. 12
4 Section 77H(3)(a), (e)(iii) and (4), `in the practise'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`in the practice'. 15
5 Section 77I(2)(a) and (e)(iii), `practise'-- 16
omit, insert-- 17
`practice'. 18
157
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
6 Section 139A(3), `subsection (3)'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`subsection (2)'. 3
Pest Management Act 2001 4
1 Schedule 3, definition registered training organisation, 5
`Training and Employment Act 2000'-- 6
omit, insert-- 7
`Vocational Education, Training and Employment Act 2000'. 8
Public Health Act 2005 9
1 Section 158, definition teacher-- 10
omit, insert-- 11
`teacher means an approved teacher under the Education 12
(Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005, but does not 13
include the principal of a school.'. 14
2 Section 251-- 15
insert-- 16
`HPV means the group of human papilloma viruses that can 17
cause infection in the skin surface of different areas of the 18
body, including the genital area. 19
HPV sample means the cells collected from a woman's cervix 20
for the purpose of testing them for the presence of the DNA of 21
HPV. 22
158
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
HPV test means the process of testing a HPV sample for the 1
presence of the DNA of HPV.'. 2
3 Section 251, definition clinical information, paragraph (a), 3
`and histology tests'-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`, histology tests and HPV tests'. 6
4 Section 251, definition provider, paragraph (a), `or 7
histological sample'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`, histological sample or HPV sample'. 10
5 Sections 252, 254(c), 256, 259(1) and (3), 265(2)(a) and (c), 11
273(2)(a) and (3)(b) and 275(4)(b), `or histological 12
sample'-- 13
omit, insert-- 14
`, histological sample or HPV sample'. 15
6 Chapter 6, part 3, division 3 heading, `and histological 16
samples'-- 17
omit, insert-- 18
`, histological samples and HPV samples'. 19
7 Sections 257(3), 258(4) and 273(3)(a), `or histology test'-- 20
omit, insert-- 21
`, histology test or HPV test'. 22
8 Sections 275(4)(d)(i) and 276(3)(a)(i), `or histology tests'-- 23
omit, insert-- 24
`, histology tests or HPV tests'. 25
159
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
9 Section 276(3)(a), `or histological samples'-- 1
omit, insert-- 2
`, histological samples or HPV samples'. 3
10 Section 277, heading-- 4
omit, insert-- 5
`277 Agreement for sending out notice under s 260, 261 or 6
262'. 7
11 Section 332(2)(b), `emergency officer (general), and'-- 8
omit, insert-- 9
`emergency officer (general) and'. 10
12 Schedule 2-- 11
insert-- 12
`HPV, for chapter 6, part 3, see section 251. 13
HPV sample, for chapter 6, part 3, see section 251. 14
HPV test, for chapter 6, part 3, see section 251.'. 15
Public Health (Infection Control for Personal 16
Appearance Services) Act 2003 17
1 Schedule 2, definition registered training organisation, 18
`Training and Employment Act 2000'-- 19
omit, insert-- 20
`Vocational Education, Training and Employment Act 2000'. 21
160
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
Research Involving Human Embryos and Prohibition 1
of Human Cloning Act 2003 2
1 Section 21, definition proper consent, paragraph (a), 3
`Ethical Guidelines on Assisted Reproductive Technology 4
(1996)'-- 5
omit, insert-- 6
`Ethical Guidelines on the Use of Assisted Reproductive 7
Technology in Clinical Practice and Research (2004)'. 8
Tobacco and Other Smoking Products Act 1998 9
1 Section 26Q, definition community titles scheme, 10
`section 11'-- 11
omit, insert-- 12
`section 10'. 13
2 Section 26Q, definition lot, `schedule 4'-- 14
omit, insert-- 15
`schedule 6'. 16
Transplantation and Anatomy Act 1979 17
1 Section 4(1), definition hospital, at the end of paragraph 18
(a)-- 19
insert-- 20
`or'. 21
161
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 4 (continued)
2 Section 12E, at the end of paragraphs (a) and (b)-- 1
insert-- 2
`and'. 3
3 Section 15, at the end of paragraphs (a) and (b)-- 4
insert-- 5
`or'. 6
4 Section 38(3), `or (2)'-- 7
omit. 8
162
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 5 Dictionary 1
section 7 2
accepted representations see section 26(2). 3
assistant commissioner means a Health Quality and 4
Complaints Assistant Commissioner appointed under section 5
149. 6
authorised person means a person appointed by the 7
commission under section 116. 8
chief executive means the chief executive officer of the office. 9
chief health officer means the chief health officer under the 10
Health Services Act 1991, section 57B. 11
code see section 31(1). 12
commencement for chapter 15, part 2, see section 219. 13
commission means the Health Quality and Complaints 14
Commission established under section 11(1). 15
commissioner means the Health Quality and Complaints 16
Commissioner appointed under section 148. 17
commission member means the commissioner or an assistant 18
commissioner. 19
commission officer means the chief executive or another 20
member of the staff of the office. 21
commission standard means a standard made under section 22
22. 23
complainant-- 24
(a) generally, means-- 25
(i) a person who makes a health quality complaint or a 26
health service complaint; or 27
(ii) a person substituted, under section 43, for a person 28
who makes a health service complaint; or 29
(b) for chapter 7, part 3, see section 90. 30
163
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 5 (continued)
completion notice means-- 1
(a) for a registration board other than the Queensland 2
Nursing Council--a notice under the Health 3
Practitioners (Professional Standards) Act 1999, section 4
383; or 5
(b) for the Queensland Nursing Council--a notice under the 6
Nursing Act 1992, section 118A; or 7
(c) for another entity--notice that the entity has finished 8
dealing with the complaint. 9
conciliation means the process of conciliation under chapter 10
6. 11
conciliator means a commission officer to whom the 12
commission's function of conciliating health service 13
complaints has been delegated under section 166. 14
convicted of an indictable offence includes convicted of an 15
indictable offence dealt with summarily, whether or not the 16
Criminal Code, section 659 applies to the indictable offence. 17
conviction means a finding of guilt by a court, or the 18
acceptance of a plea of guilty by a court, whether or not a 19
conviction is recorded. 20
coroner see the Coroners Act 2003, schedule 2. 21
detriment includes-- 22
(a) personal injury or prejudice to safety; and 23
(b) property damage or loss; and 24
(c) intimidation or harassment; and 25
(d) adverse discrimination, disadvantage or adverse 26
treatment about career, profession, employment, trade or 27
business; and 28
(e) threats of detriment; and 29
(f) financial loss from detriment. 30
disciplinary body means-- 31
(a) a disciplinary committee; or 32
164
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 5 (continued)
(b) the Health Practitioners Tribunal; or 1
(c) the Nursing Tribunal; or 2
(d) a professional conduct review panel; or 3
(e) a registration board acting under the Health 4
Practitioners (Professional Standards) Act 1999. 5
disciplinary committee means a disciplinary committee 6
established under the Health Practitioners (Professional 7
Standards) Act 1999, section 128(1)(b). 8
district health council means a district health council 9
established under the Health Services Act 1991, section 7. 10
enrolled nurse see the Nursing Act 1992, section 4. 11
former commission for chapter 15, part 2, see section 219. 12
former commissioner for chapter 15, part 2, see section 219. 13
health complaint see section 35. 14
Health Practitioners Tribunal means the Health Practitioners 15
Tribunal established under the Health Practitioners 16
(Professional Standards) Act 1999, section 26. 17
health quality complaint see section 36. 18
health rights means the rights of an individual relating to the 19
provision of a health service. 20
health service see section 8. 21
health service complaint see section 37. 22
health service facility means a facility at which health 23
services mentioned in schedule 1, part 1 are usually provided. 24
hospital means a public sector hospital, a private health 25
facility or the Mater Misericordiae Public Hospitals. 26
Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, of the 27
Commonwealth, means the Human Rights and Equal 28
Opportunity Commission established by the Human Rights 29
and Equal Opportunity Commission Act 1986 (Cwlth). 30
165
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 5 (continued)
Information Commissioner means the Information 1
Commissioner appointed under the Freedom of Information 2
Act 1992. 3
inquiry means an inquiry by the commission under chapter 8. 4
inquiry matter means a matter in relation to which an inquiry 5
is conducted. 6
inquiry member see section 96(1). 7
midwife see the Nursing Act 1992, section 4. 8
notice means written notice. 9
Nursing Tribunal means the Nursing Tribunal under the 10
Nursing Act 1992. 11
obstruct includes-- 12
(a) assault, threaten, abuse, insult, intimidate or hinder; and 13
(b) attempt to obstruct. 14
office means the Office of the Health Quality and Complaints 15
Commission established under section 174(1). 16
possession, in relation to a person having something in 17
possession, means possession or control in any place-- 18
(a) whether for the use or benefit of the person in relation to 19
whom the term is used or another person; and 20
(b) whether or not another person has actual possession or 21
custody. 22
presiding member see section 97. 23
Privacy Commissioner, of the Commonwealth, means the 24
Privacy Commissioner appointed under the Privacy Act 1988 25
(Cwlth). 26
private health facility see Private Health Facilities Act 1999, 27
section 8. 28
professional conduct review panel means a professional 29
conduct review panel established under the Health 30
Practitioners (Professional Standards) Act 1999, section 15. 31
proposed action see section 25(1)(c). 32
166
Health Quality and Complaints Commission Bill 2006
Schedule 5 (continued)
provider-- 1
(a) generally, see section 9; or 2
(b) for chapter 7, part 3, see section 90. 3
public sector hospital see the Health Services Act 1991, 4
section 2. 5
record includes any document. 6
registered provider means a person registered by a 7
registration board and includes an enrolled nurse and a 8
midwife. 9
registration board-- 10
(a) means an entity mentioned in schedule 2; and 11
(b) in relation to a registered provider means the registration 12
board that registered the provider or, for an enrolled 13
nurse or midwife, the Queensland Nursing Council. 14
repealed Act means the Health Rights Commission Act 1991 15
as in force from time to time before its repeal. 16
reprisal means a reprisal as mentioned in section 193(3). 17
seized thing see section 138(1). 18
show cause notice see section 25(1). 19
show cause period see section 25(1)(d). 20
State Coroner means the State Coroner under the Coroners 21
Act 2003. 22
takes a reprisal means the taking of a reprisal as mentioned in 23
section 193(3). 24
user see section 10. 25
witness requirement notice see section 106(1). 26
© State of Queensland 2006
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