Registered Health Professionals Ordinance, 2006

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The Registered Health Professionals Ordinance, 2006

THE STATES, in pursuance of their Resolution of the 27^th July 2005[a], hereby order:-

Restrictions on practice etc. as regulated health professional and use of titles.

1. (1) Subject to subsection (2), a person shall not -

(a) practise, or hold himself out as practising or as being prepared to practise, as a regulated health professional, or

(b) use any regulated title.

(2) Subsection (1) shall not apply in respect of a regulated health professional -

(a) whose name appears on the register established and maintained under section 3 (such a person referred to hereinafter as a "Registered Health Professional"),

(b) who practises, or holds himself out as practising, or being prepared to practise, only the regulated health profession to which his registration under section 3 relates, and

(3) A person is a regulated health professional for the purposes of this Ordinance if -

(a) his name appears on the register established and maintained by the Health Professions Council under the Health Professions Order 2001[b],

(b) his name appears on the register established and maintained under the Chiropractors Act 1994[c],

(d) he is a person who -

(i) has practised in Guernsey as a chiropractor or osteopath for a period of at least 6 months immediately before the commencement of this Ordinance,

(ii) holds a professional qualification which, in the written opinion of the Department, attests to a standard of proficiency comparable to that of a chiropractor or osteopath eligible for registration on the register established and maintained under the Chiropractors Act 1994, or the Osteopaths Act 1993, respectively, as the case may be, and

(iii) demonstrates, to the written satisfaction of the Department, that he is competent to provide medical services and treatments to a standard of proficiency comparable to that of such a chiropractor or osteopath, as the case may be, or

(e) he is a person of such other class or description as may be specified in regulations made under this section by the Department.

Obligation upon Registered Health Professional to provide recognised services etc.

2. A Registered Health Professional shall not provide medical services, use medical techniques or follow medical procedures, except those services, techniques and procedures -

(a) which are provided, used or followed as a matter of normal practice by members of the regulated health profession in respect of which the Professional is registered under this Ordinance, and

(b) which are within his particular area or sphere of professional competence.

Register of Health Professionals.

3. (1) The Department shall establish and maintain a register and shall enter in that register the names and regulated health profession of each person who -

(a) applies to the Department, in such a manner as the Department may from time to time require, under this section, and

(b) satisfies the Department that he is a regulated health professional in the profession to which his application relates.

(2) The Department may require a person who applies under this section to furnish such information (in addition to any information furnished pursuant to subsection (1)), verified in such manner, as the Department thinks fit.

(3) The Department shall delete from the register maintained under this section any entry relating to a Registered Health Professional -

(a) at the request of the Professional concerned, or

(b) who -

(i) ceases to be a regulated health professional, or

(ii) fails to comply with the standards of recognised best practice of the regulated health profession to which his registration under this Ordinance relates.

Inspection of registered information.

4. (1) The Department shall inform Her Majesty's Greffier of the names and regulated health professions of every person in relation to whom an entry is made in the register established and maintained under section 3 and of every such entry which is deleted by the Department under section 3(3).

(2) The information provided under this section shall, at all times when the Greffe is required under the law for the time being in force to be open, be available there for public inspection free of charge.

Offences and penalties.

5. (1) A person who contravenes section 1(1) or 2 is guilty of an offence and liable -

(a) on conviction on indictment, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months, or to a fine not exceeding level 4 on the uniform scale or to both,

(b) on summary conviction, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding three months or to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the uniform scale or to both.

(2) A person who in connection with an application under section 3, knowingly or recklessly makes any false or misleading statement or furnishes any false or misleading information is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the uniform scale.

(3) A regulated health professional who fails, without reasonable excuse, to notify the Department as soon as reasonably possible -

(a) of any change in the details relating to him as they appear on, or

(b) that his name no longer appears on,

any of the registers referred to in section 1(3), is guilty of an offence and liable, on summary conviction, to a fine not exceeding level 2 on the uniform scale.

Construction of enactments.

6. Unless the context requires otherwise, any reference, however expressed, in any enactment, and in any document, to a person authorised to practise as a Registered Health Professional, shall be construed as a reference to a Registered Health Professional within the meaning of this Ordinance.

Interpretation.

7. In this Ordinance unless the context requires otherwise -

"the Department" means the States Health and Social Services Department,

"enactment" includes any Law and any Ordinance of the States, any Act of Parliament extending to Guernsey and any subordinate instrument of a legislative character made under any such Law, Ordinance or Act, whether or not the Law, Ordinance, Act or instrument is in force when this Ordinance comes into force,

"Health Professions Council" means the Health Professions Council established under the Health Professions Order 2001,

"Registered Health Professional" has the meaning given by section 1(2),

"regulated health profession" means, subject to section 8, any health profession of a class or description set out in the schedule to this Ordinance,

"regulated health professional" has the meaning given by section 1(3),

"regulated title" means a title or descriptor of a type indicated in the schedule to this Ordinance, and

"uniform scale" means the uniform scale of fines from time to time specified under the Uniform Scale of Fines (Bailiwick of Guernsey) Law, 1989[e].

Power of Department to amend schedule by order.

8. The Department may by order made under this section amend the classes and descriptions of health profession set out in the schedule to this Ordinance.

Regulations and orders.

9. (1) Any regulations or orders made under any provision of this Ordinance -

(a) may be amended or revoked by subsequent regulations or orders so made, and

(b) may include incidental, consequential, supplementary and transitional provisions.

(2) Any power conferred by or under this Ordinance to make regulations or orders may be exercised -

(a) in relation to all cases to which the power extends, in relation to all of those cases subject to specified exceptions, or in relation to any specified cases or classes of cases,

(b) so as to make, as respects the cases in relation to which it is exercised -

(i) the full provision to which the power extends, or any less provision (by way of exception or otherwise),

(ii) the same provision for all cases, or different provision for different cases or classes of cases, or different provision for the same case or class of case but for different purposes,

(iii) any such provision either unconditionally or subject to any prescribed conditions.

(3) Regulations or orders under this Ordinance shall be laid before a meeting of the States as soon as possible and shall, if at that or the next meeting the States resolve to annul them, cease to have effect, but without prejudice to anything done under them or to the making of new regulations or orders.

Extent.

10. This Ordinance has effect in the Islands of Guernsey, Herm and Jethou.

Citation.

11. This Ordinance may be cited as the Registered Health Professionals Ordinance, 2006.

Commencement.

12. (1) With the exception of sections 1(1), 2 and 5, this Ordinance shall come into force on the 25^th day of January, 2006.

(2) Sections 1(1), 2 and 5 shall come into force on such day as the Department may by order, made under this section, appoint.

Section 7

SCHEDULE

Regulated Health Professions

1. Arts therapists (including art psychotherapists, drama therapists and music therapists).

2. Biomedical scientists (including medical laboratory technicians).

3. Chiropodists/podiatrists.

4. Chiropractors.

5. Clinical scientists.

6. Dieticians.

7. Occupational therapists.

8. Operating department practitioners.

9. Orthoptists.

10. Osteopaths.

11. Paramedics.

12. Physiotherapists (including physical therapists).

13. Prosthetists and orthotists.

14. Radiographers (including diagnostic radiographers and therapeutic radiographers).

15. Speech and language therapists.

[a]	Article VIII of Billet d'État XI of 2005.
[b]	United Kingdom S.I. 2002 No. 254.
[c]	An Act of Parliament (1994 c. 17).
[d]	An Act of Parliament (1993 c. 21).
[e]	Ordres en Conseil Vol. XXXI, p. 278 (Amended by Recueil d'Ordonnances Tome XXV, p. 344 and Ordinance No. XXII of 1998).