Victorian Consolidated Legislation

Health Professions Registration Act 2005 - SECT 3

Definitions

3. Definitions



(1) In this Act-

alcoholic has the same meaning as in the
Alcoholics and Drug-dependent Persons Act 1968; authorised person means the
registrar of a responsible board or a person authorised by a responsible board
or the Secretary under section 143 to carry out functions and exercise powers
under Part 9; condition includes limitation or restriction; division in
relation to a register, means a division of a register established or
continued by section 172;

drug-dependent person has the same meaning as in the
Alcoholics and Drug-dependent Persons Act 1968; endorsement means an
endorsement of a health practitioner's registration under Division 2 of
Part 2;

fund means a fund established by or continued in operation under this Act that
is administered by a responsible board; health assessment includes a medical
examination by a medical practitioner registered under this Act; health panel
means a health panel established by a responsible board under Schedule 2;
health practitioner means a practitioner in one of the health professions
regulated by a responsible board but does not include a student;

Health Services Commissioner means the Health Services Commissioner within the
meaning of the Health Services (Conciliation and Review) Act 1987;
investigations committee means an investigations committee established by a
responsible board under Schedule 2; investigation review panel means an
investigation review panel established by a responsible board under
Schedule 2; investigator means a person appointed by a responsible board to
conduct an investigation under Division 2 of Part 3;





lawyer means a person who-

   (a)  is admitted to the legal profession under the
        Legal Profession Act 2004 or a corresponding law within the meaning of
        that Act; and

   (b)  holds a practising certificate granted under that Act or a practising
        certificate granted under a corresponding law within the meaning of
        that Act; member means a member of a responsible board; non-practising
        health practitioner means a health practitioner who is registered
        under section 11; notifier means a person who has made a notification
        under section 42; panel hearing means a hearing conducted by a health
        panel or a professional standards panel under Division 6 or 7 of
        Part 3;

pharmacy means premises in or from which a registered pharmacist supplies,
compounds or dispenses medicines to the public and includes the portion of the
premises where the pharmacist sells or offers to sell goods of any kind, but
does not include a pharmacy department or pharmacy depot; pharmacy business
means a business carried on at a pharmacy and includes the business of
providing pharmacy services and that part of the business where goods of any
kind are sold or offered to be sold but does not include a pharmacy department
or pharmacy depot;

pharmacy services includes-

   (a)  the supply, compounding or dispensing of medicines; and

   (b)  advice and counselling on the effective and safe use of medicines;
        pharmacy department means the portion of the premises of a registered
        funded agency, registered community health centre, private hospital or
        privately-operated hospital within the meaning of the
        Health Services Act 1988 set aside for supplying, compounding or
        dispensing medicines on order or prescription to patients and staff of
        the agency, registered community health centre or hospital; pharmacy
        depot means premises at which-

   (a)  written prescriptions for the supplying, compounding or dispensing of
        medicines may be left for a pharmacist;

   (b)  medicines supplied, compounded or dispensed by a registered pharmacist
        may be left for collection by or on behalf of the person to whom they
        are addressed; practice, in relation to the health profession of
        Chinese medicine, includes the practice of dispensing Chinese herbs;
        practise, in relation to a pharmacist, includes provide pharmacy
        services;

professional indemnity insurance includes insurance against civil liability in
connection with the provision of regulated health services by a registered
health practitioner and an agreement or arrangement for discretionary
indemnity in respect of that liability; professional misconduct includes-

   (a)  unprofessional conduct of a health practitioner, where the conduct
        involves a substantial or consistent failure to reach or maintain a
        reasonable standard of competence and diligence; and

   (b)  conduct that violates or falls short of, to a substantial degree, the
        standard of professional conduct observed by members of the profession
        of good repute or competency; and

   (c)  conduct of a health practitioner, whether occurring in connection with
        the practice of the health practitioner's health profession or
        occurring otherwise than in connection with the practice of a health
        profession, that would, if established, justify a finding that the
        practitioner is not of good character or is otherwise not a fit and
        proper person to engage in the practice of that health profession;
        professional performance means the knowledge, skill or care possessed
        and applied by a registered health practitioner in the provision of
        regulated health services; professional standards panel means a
        professional standards panel established by a responsible board under
        Schedule 2;



proprietary interest means a legal or beneficial interest and includes a
proprietary interest as a sole proprietor, as a partner, as a director, member
or shareholder of a company and as the trustee or beneficiary of a trust;

register means a register of health practitioners under section 30 kept by the
responsible board which regulates those health practitioners;

registered health practitioner means a person registered under Part 2, whether
or not the registration of that person is general, specific, provisional,
interim or non-practising but does not include a registered student;
registered medical practitioner means a medical practitioner registered under
Part 2 of this Act by the Medical Practitioners Board of Victoria but does not
include a registered student; registered pharmacist means a pharmacist
registered under Part 2 of this Act by the Pharmacy Board of Victoria but does
not include a registered student;

registered student means a student registered under section 8; registrar means
the person employed by a responsible board under section 132 to be responsible
for the register kept by that board; regulated health profession means a
health profession that is regulated by a responsible board under this Act;
regulated health service means a health service usually provided in a
regulated health profession; responsible board, in relation to a health
practitioner regulated under this Act, means the responsible board listed in
Schedule 1, established or continued in operation by this Act that registers
and regulates the health practitioner;

Secretary means-

   (a)  in relation to any act to which section 6(3) of the Health Act 1958
        applies, the body corporate established under section 6 of that Act;
        and

   (b)  in any other case, the Department Head, within the meaning of the
        Public Administration Act 2004, to the Department of Human Services;
        supervised practice includes internship; Tribunal hearing means a
        proceeding conducted by VCAT under Division 1 or 2 of Part 4;
        unprofessional conduct includes-

   (a)  conduct of a health practitioner occurring in connection with the
        practice of the practitioner's health profession that is of a lesser
        standard than a member of the public or the health practitioner's
        peers are entitled to expect of a reasonably competent health
        practitioner of that kind;

   (b)  professional performance which is of a lesser standard than that which
        the registered health practitioner's peers might reasonably expect of
        a registered health practitioner;

* * * * *

   (d)  providing a person with health services of a kind that are excessive,
        unnecessary or not reasonably required for that person's well-being;

   (e)  influencing or attempting to influence the provision of health
        services in such a way that client care may be compromised;

   (f)  a contravention of section 94 or the guidelines issued under section
        95;

   (g)  the failure to act as a health practitioner when required under an Act
        or regulations to do so;

   (h)  a finding of guilt of-

   (i)  an offence where the health practitioner's suitability to continue to
        practise is likely to be affected because of the finding of guilt or
        where it is not in the public interest to allow the health
        practitioner to continue to practise because of the finding of guilt;
        or

   (ii) an offence under this Act or the regulations; or

   (iii) an offence as a health practitioner under any other Act or
        regulations;

   (i)  the contravention of, or failure to comply with a condition imposed on
        the registration of the health practitioner by or under this Act;

   (j)  in the case of a registered pharmacist, if the pharmacist owns or has
        a proprietary interest in a pharmacy business approved under Part 6,
        failure to comply with a condition of approval of that pharmacy
        business;

   (k)  the breach of an agreement made under this Act between a health
        practitioner and the responsible board that registered that
        practitioner.

(2) In this Act-

   (a)  a reference to general, specific, provisional or interim registration
        is to be taken to include a reference to that registration in a
        particular division of the register kept by the responsible board;

   (b)  a reference to a registered health practitioner in relation to any
        matter or proceedings referred to in Part 3 or 4, is to be taken to
        include a reference to a person who has ceased to be or is no longer a
        registered health practitioner or whose registration has been
        cancelled or is suspended.

(3) If under the Public Administration Act 2004 the name of the Department of
Human Services is changed, the reference in the definition of Secretary in
subsection (1) to that Department must, from the date when the name is
changed, be treated as a reference to the Department by its new name.







(4) For the purposes of this Act, a person is to be treated as carrying on a
business (including a pharmacy business) or pharmacy department or pharmacy
depot if the person owns, manages, controls, conducts or operates the business
or the pharmacy department or pharmacy depot.

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