Public Consultation on proposed Allied Health Professions Bill

08 Sep 2010

As part of its efforts to ensure high standards of practice by Allied Healthcare Professionals, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is proposing an Allied Health Professions (AHP) Bill. The purpose of the AHP Bill is to protect the health and safety of the public.

2. Through the mechanism of a single regulatory body, registration and disciplinary framework, the proposed AHP Bill will serve to regulate the Allied Health Professionals’ conduct and practice.

THE NEED FOR LEGISLATION

3. MOH has been expanding the supply of Allied Health Professionals through our local institutes of higher learning (e.g. polytechnics and universities) and foreign recruitment. Currently, the regulation of the Allied Health profession is left to the professionals themselves through their professional associations. However, many are not members of these professional bodies. To safeguard the public, legislation is needed to ensure Allied Health professionals are competent and maintain high professional standards.

PROPOSED REGULATORY STRUCTURE

4. The proposed AHP Bill provides a systematic framework for the regulation of the Allied Health professions. In developing the Bill, the legislations and practices of developed countries like the United States, United Kingdom and Australia were studied. Legislation governing healthcare professionals like the doctors, dentists and pharmacists in Singapore were also reviewed.

The proposed AHP Bill will include the following key provisions:

Establishment of a Council

5. To strengthen professional competency and standards, the Allied Health Professions Council will be set up to regulate the various Allied Health professions’ conduct and practice. Regulation will start with occupational therapists, physiotherapists and speech-language therapists. Other Allied Health professions may be regulated subsequently. The members of the Council will be appointed by the Minister for Health and will include representatives from each of the regulated Allied Health professions. The Council’s functions will include approval of applications for registrations, issuance of practising certificates to registered AHPs, and regulation of practice standards and conduct of registered AHPs.

Registration Framework

6. A key initiative of the AHP Bill is the establishment of a registration system to recognise appropriately trained and qualified professionals for practice in Singapore. 

There will be four types of registration for each Allied Health profession:

a) Full Registration

b) Restricted Registration

c) Conditional Registration

d) Temporary Registration

The Council will determine the registration status of each applicant based on training and qualifications, practice experience, and other relevant credentials (if any). These differentiations in registration are similar to current differentiations in the medical, dental, and pharmacist professions.

Prohibit misrepresentation of the professions

7. To protect the public against misrepresentation of the Allied Health Professionals, the Bill proposed that it be an offence for a person who is not registered with the Council to falsely pretend to be a registered Allied Health Professional through the use of professional titles, such as occupational therapist, physiotherapist, or speech therapist, which imply that he is registered in Singapore.

System for Complaints Management and Discipline

8. To allow the Council to act against errant practitioners, the AHP Bill will introduce a system for complaints management, inquiry and investigation. The processes and procedures, which are consistent with the regulatory framework of other healthcare professions, include the option for voluntary removal or suspension, routing of complaints to a Complaints Committee, and referral to a Disciplinary Tribunal or Health Committee for just and effective remedial actions. 

Public Consultation

9. MOH will conduct a 4-week public consultation (9 September to 7 October 2010) to obtain feedback on the proposed AHP Bill. The Public Consultation paper(Annex A)  and draft bill (Annex B) are attached. This is also available on the MOH and REACH websites. All feedback should reach the Ministry by 7 October 2010.

MINISTRY OF HEALTH

• Annex A (55 KB) 
  Public Consultation paper

• Annex B (390 KB) 
  Draft bill