Dean Jacqui: Health Practitioners (Replacement of Statutory References to Medical Practitioners) Bill — First ReadingText is incorporated into the Bound VolumeDean Jacqui: Health Practitioners (Replacement of Statutory References to Medical Practitioners) Bill — First Reading[Sitting date: 18 August 2015. Volume:707;Page:5918. Text is incorporated into the Bound Volume.]JACQUI DEAN (National—Waitaki): The Health Practitioners (Replacement of Statutory References to Medical Practitioners) Bill I am assuming enjoys wide support through the House. On the face of it it looks like a pretty sensible bill. As I have been reading the bill for the first time this evening it seems on the face of it relatively in concept quite straightforward. What this omnibus bill does do to a number of statutes is to bring legislation into line with current practice. Once again it is another statute that is being brought to the House that is modernising legislation to make it fit for modern times and so it is with this bill.Medical practitioners or medically trained practitioners including general practitioners have for many years been the medical personnel who have had statutory duties under a number of pieces of legislation. Of course current practice has changed now. For example we have a much higher level of competency and training in a number of other health professionals—nurses in particular and other health practitioners as well.As I often do I will refer back to my large rural constituency where health services are delivered increasingly away from the base hospital and towards where the local population lives. That is a laudable move by this Government and it is working particularly well for the people who live in my communities. We are getting health services closer to where people need them.Another component of the delivery of those health services is to allow those highly trained health practitioners to now deliver some of those roles that have been the province so far of medical practitioners. So if I can simplify the omnibus bill rightdown in many instances the changes in this bill proposed for the statutes to which it refers are to change references from “medical practitioner”to “health practitioner”. “Health practitioner”is not just a term thought up by some officials in the Ministry of Health. Health practitioners are required to have competencies and knowledge as you would expect and the ability to perform a number of tasks.I am just going to go through some of the statutes that are covered in this bill. There are a number of them of course as this is an omnibus bill. It is interesting for those of us who are in this business that an omnibus bill may be introduced to the House if the amendments to be effected to each Act are of a similar nature. Of course in this case this bill as it is applied to those statutes recognises the increasing skill levels of health practitioners. I will refer to the Accident Compensation Act. What the amendment to that Act will do is make reference to a health practitioner rather than a medical practitioner in clause 7 of schedule 1. What that means if you go to schedule 1 is that ahealth practitioner leading the coordination of treatment or rehabilitation of the claimant for ACC must now be given the opportunityto participate in the preparation of the individual’s rehabilitation plan. Again that is using wisely the enhanced skills of health practitioners.Under the Burial and Cremation Act which is an older Act of Parliament—from 1964 and probably due for renewal—a “doctor’s certificate” which is required by that Act is going to be renamed a “certificate of cause of death”. References to “doctor” in that piece of legislation will be replaced by references to “medical practitioner”.And so it is with the Children Young Persons and Their Families Act. This one is our very important Act for vulnerable children in particular in the New Zealand legislative system. So in that legislation there is an equivalent duty to minimise distress to children and young persons when carrying out medical examinations and that duty goes on to health practitioners so that it is in line with the duty of medical practitioners who do the same thing. So the benefits there—and I am looking forward to the select committee consideration of this bill—are that the focus under this Government goes on yet again to what is good for children. A health practitioner who may have an existing relationship with the child under care now has the ability to undertake procedures and medical examinations rather than it just being confined to those of the health practitioner.The bill also amends the Holidays Act the Land Transport Act—and I am not going to go into each piece of legislation. There are other members who I know are very keen to speak to those particular Acts. I know that my colleague Scott Simpson is particularly keen to focus on the Holidays Act and the Land Transport Act in his initial contribution so I am going to leave those up to him.I just want to finish my contribution with a couple of comments on our health workforce because of course this omnibus bill once it is passed will have a large impact on health professionals in New Zealand. I will just note that it is this Government that is investing in the training of health professionals which is why it is appropriate for us to be able to make these changes in the way health services are delivered to New Zealand. Although this is a simple bill on the surface it has wide-reaching implications and I commend it to the House.