Page 80 - Registrar Orientation Manual 2016

Practising certificates
Have you, since your last practising certificate was issued, been affected by a mental or physical condition that has the capacity to affect your ability to practise.
If your answer is ‘Yes’, please send us full details of the condition, the duration of any treatment, name and contact details of your treating practitioner(s), and involvement of university/medical school/employer.
The information we need is:
• the actual diagnosis you have been given, with a brief history
• a brief outline of treatment and its efficacy, and relevant management, including what is in place
to assist recovery, or to manage any chronic, progressive, or relapsing and remitting conditions
• how the condition has impacted on your practice. If there are potential future impacts, any plans
to manage these would be relevant
• any potential risk to patients
• any professional advice you have had on your fitness to practise.
You may ask your treating doctor to provide a report to cover these points. There is provision of the practising certificate application form for you to give your consent to the Council’s Health Manager to contact your treating practitioner(s) for further information. This may be delegated to one of Council’s Health Case Managers.
The information can be posted in an envelope marked ‘STRICTLY CONFIDENTIAL ATTENTION HEALTH MANAGER’. This is to ensure this it is referred unopened to the Health Team. Or, you can send it by email to healthdisclosure@mcnz.org.nz
What if I am not sure whether I have to provide information about a condition I have?
You can speak to one of the Health Case Managers on 0800 286 801 about your specific situation, for example your scope of practice may be a relevant factor. You can talk to your treating doctor, who is also welcome to speak to one of our Health Case Managers.
We do not usually need information about:
• short-lived conditions which respond quickly to rest or treatment, and from which a full recovery
is made
• medical problems that don’t affect a doctor’s ability to practise.
Why does the Council collect and hold personal health information about doctors?
The information we ask for is consistent with our statutory purpose. We need to know if a doctor has a condition (mental or physical) that affects, or could affect, their practice, and we need to know to what extent, if any, this impacts on their ability to practise.
Council respects doctors’ rights as they relate to their personal health information. The Council follows the information privacy principles set down under the Health Information Privacy Code 1994 and the Privacy Act 1993. Some of the key ways in which this is done are:
Document Number: 972962 Version: 2
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