Free Council or Board Notification Course: What to Do, Step by Step

Lesson 13 minutes

Read the letter

Start with what the letter says. It tells you which body wrote to you, what the concern is about, what you are being asked to do and by when.

• Who wrote to you. Your Council or Board is the responsible authority for your profession under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (the HPCA Act): the Medical Council, the Nursing Council, the Midwifery Council, the Pharmacy Council, the Dental Council, the Psychologists Board and the others. If a patient complained about their care, the letter may come from the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC), because the Act requires the authority to send a health consumer's complaint to the HDC.
• What it is about. A notification raises a question about your competence, your health or your conduct. Each has its own route: a competence review, the health process, or a Professional Conduct Committee. If the letter names a route, keep a copy of its exact wording.
• What you are asked to do. A written response, records or information, by a stated date. Note every date in your calendar.

Our guide to what happens after a notification to your Council or Board sets out each route and its outcomes.

Lesson 23 minutes

Your first calls

Before you discuss the detail of the concern with your Council or Board, or write anything, call the people whose job is to help you.

• Your indemnity insurer or medical defence organisation, or your union or professional association. They can advise on what to say and in what order, and can read your response before you send it.
• If the authority or the HDC calls you first, you can say that you would like to speak with your insurer before you answer in detail.
• Support for you. A notification is stressful. Use the support your association, your employer or your own doctor can give you, early.

Do not contact the person who made the notification about it, directly or through anyone else. Contact about the notification can harm your own response.

Lesson 33 minutes

Protect the record

What you do with your records in the first days can matter as much as anything you write later.

• Do not change existing clinical notes, and speak to your insurer before adding anything to a record. The authority can ask for the records and compare them with your account.
• Write your own account now, dated and private, of what happened and why you acted as you did. It is for you and your insurer, not for sending.
• Gather what you will need: the relevant records, policies, messages and rosters, through the proper channels at your workplace.
• Keep it to yourself. Do not discuss the detail with colleagues who may be asked for information, and do not post about it online.

Lesson 44 minutes

What your Council or Board will look for

Your Council or Board looks at whether you understand the concern and whether it could happen again. Three things answer that question.

• Insight: you understand what went wrong, why it matters, and how it looked to the patient, whānau or colleague involved.
• Reflection: you have thought it through in writing, linked to your Council's or Board's code and standards.
• Remediation: what you have done since, with evidence: a course on the subject of the concern, an audit of your records, supervision or mentoring, a change to how you work.

Our guide on showing insight, reflection and a remediation plan explains what to include, and how to respond to a Council or Board notification gives a structure for your written response.

Self-check2 minutes

Five questions

Choose an answer to see the explanation.