A Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) is a committee your Council or Board appoints under Part 4 of the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (the HPCA Act) to investigate a specific matter about you: a complaint that has come back from the Health and Disability Commissioner, a conviction, a notification about your conduct, or a concern a competence review has uncovered. The Committee gathers the records and statements, tells you what it is investigating, gives you the chance to respond in writing and to be heard, and then decides one of five things: no further action, that you be counselled, that your competence be reviewed, that conditions be placed on your practice, or that a charge be laid before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The PCC does not punish you. It decides whether the matter stops here or goes further, and your response is the main thing it has to decide that on.
What a PCC is and how it is appointed
The authority appoints a PCC when a matter reaches it that the Act says must be investigated, or that the authority decides should be. The Committee is small: practitioners from your profession and a lay member, appointed for this matter only. It has a legal adviser and may appoint an investigator to gather documents and interview witnesses. Its members are not the authority's staff and have no earlier involvement in your case.
A PCC is not a court. It can require documents and information, it can interview you and others, and it decides on the papers and what it hears from you. It is one stage of the conduct route described in the guide to what happens after a notification to your Council or Board. If a complaint about care you gave to a patient started the matter, it will have gone first to the HDC; the guide to an HDC breach finding and the Director of Proceedings explains how an HDC decision reaches a PCC.
Who decides and what the Committee looks at
The Committee decides. The authority that appointed it receives the recommendation and gives effect to it, but the choice between the five outcomes is the Committee's. In reaching that choice it looks at the following.
- The allegation, as particularised. The Committee writes down the matters it is investigating and sends them to you. Those matters, and no others, are what it decides.
- The records. The clinical record, correspondence, rosters, prescriptions, invoices, messages and any document the notifier or an employer has supplied.
- Statements. From the notifier, the patient, colleagues and any witness the investigator interviews, and your own statement.
- The standard. Your profession's code of conduct or ethics and the authority's statements on the topic of the concern: consent, boundaries, records, prescribing, honesty, communication.
- Your response and what you have done since. Whether you have understood what went wrong, what you have changed, and the evidence of it: supervision, an audit, courses with dated certificates, a written reflection.
- Your history. Earlier notifications, conditions or findings, and how you responded to them.
What happens step by step
- Appointment and notice. The authority appoints the Committee and writes to you with the matter referred and the names of the members. You can object to a member for a stated reason.
- Investigation. The Committee or its investigator obtains records, requests documents from you and your employer, and interviews witnesses. You may be asked for a statement at this stage.
- Particulars and your response. The Committee sends you the matters it is investigating and the material it will rely on, and asks for your written response by a date. Prepare it with your adviser. The guide to writing a response to a Council or Board notification gives the structure.
- Being heard. The Committee gives you a reasonable opportunity to be heard, in person or by video, with a lawyer or adviser present. It asks questions; you answer them and describe what you have changed.
- Deliberation and decision. The Committee decides which of the five outcomes applies and records its reasons.
- Recommendation or charge. It sends its recommendation to the authority, which acts on it, or it frames and lays a charge before the Tribunal.
Your rights during the investigation
The Act and the rules of natural justice give you the following, and a Committee that does not provide them can be challenged.
- To know the matter. The substance of what is being investigated, in writing, early enough to answer it.
- To see the material. The documents and statements the Committee will rely on, before you respond.
- To respond in writing. With a reasonable time to do so, and with extensions for a stated reason.
- To be heard. Before the Committee reaches a decision, and with representation.
- To be told the outcome. The decision and the reasons, and a copy of any charge laid.
The five outcomes
- No further action. The Committee is satisfied that the matter does not warrant any step, or that what you have done since answers it. The file closes.
- Counselling. The Committee recommends that the authority counsel you: a formal meeting or letter about the standard expected and what you must do differently. There are no conditions, and nothing is entered on the register.
- A competence review. Where the matter raises a question about your competence rather than your conduct, the Committee recommends that the authority order a review under section 36. The guide to what happens in a competence review explains what follows.
- Conditions. The Committee recommends that conditions be placed on your scope of practice or your practising certificate: supervision, a limit on an area of practice, a requirement to complete named courses, an audit. Conditions are entered on the public register and reviewed.
- A charge before the Tribunal. Where the Committee considers the conduct may amount to professional misconduct or another ground for discipline, it frames a charge and lays it before the Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal. The Tribunal then hears the charge. The guide to what happens at a Tribunal hearing sets out that stage, and the guide to interim suspension and interim conditions explains the orders the authority can make under section 69 while the investigation or the charge is pending.
The Committee can also refer a matter to the Police or to another body where the Act or the facts require it, and it can combine outcomes, for example counselling with a recommendation of conditions.
How to present yourself
The Committee is deciding whether the matter needs to go further. What moves a matter towards the lower outcomes is a response that engages with the allegation as written, matches the records, acknowledges what fell short, and shows change with evidence. What moves it towards a charge is a response that denies what the records show, blames the patient or colleagues, or shows no understanding of the concern. In its decisions the Tribunal has described the absence of insight as an aggravating factor and genuine insight with remediation as mitigating, and a Committee reads a response with the same questions in mind.
- Answer each particular. Take the Committee's matters one at a time. Say what happened, with reference to the record, and what your reasoning was.
- Accept what is true. Where the record shows a shortfall, say so plainly and say why it happened. Your adviser will help you draw the line between an acknowledgement and an admission you should not make.
- Show what has changed. Supervision with a named supervisor and a log, an audit with results, courses with dated certificates, a change in how your practice is organised. Attach the documents.
- Write a short reflection. What happened, why, what you understand now, what you have changed. The guide to showing insight and building a remediation plan explains what reads as insight and what does not.
- Keep the tone level. No anger, no sarcasm, no speculation about the notifier's motives. The Committee is also judging how you conduct yourself in a process.
Where the concern is about honesty, the response is harder to write and the advice matters more; the guide to an honesty or probity concern covers that situation. Profession guides describe how a PCC sits within the Medical Council's process for doctors and the Nursing Council's process for nurses.
Where remediation fits
Remediation completed before the Committee decides is evidence; remediation promised for later is not. Three courses match what a PCC reads for. Dealing with a Complaint or Investigation covers how to engage with the process you are in. Insight for Fitness to Practise covers the difference between regret and insight and how to write about it. Rebuilding Trust of Patients, the Public and the Regulator covers what a regulator needs to see to be satisfied the public is safe.
Each course is NZ$200, takes 2 CPD hours, is self-paced with immediate access, and ends with a dated certificate issued by Healthcare Ethics Courses that you can submit to your Council or Board or put in your remediation plan. The remediation courses for every Council and Board are on the hub page, and the Council and Board investigation process explained shows where the PCC sits among the stages.
Sources and further reading
- Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003: Part 4, including the appointment and powers of a Professional Conduct Committee and the interim orders in section 69.
- Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal: published decisions on charges laid by Professional Conduct Committees.
- Health and Disability Commissioner: how a complaint is assessed and referred to a responsible authority.
Frequently asked questions
Is a Professional Conduct Committee the same as the Tribunal?
No. A Professional Conduct Committee is appointed by your Council or Board to investigate a specific matter and decide what should happen next. It can close the matter, recommend counselling, a competence review or conditions, or lay a charge. The Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal is a separate body that hears charges, makes findings and imposes penalties. A PCC cannot cancel or suspend your registration; only the Tribunal can do that after a charge is proved, although the authority can make interim orders while the PCC investigates.
Do I have to attend a PCC meeting in person?
The Act requires the Committee to give you a reasonable opportunity to make written submissions and to be heard before it reaches a decision. Whether that is in person, by video or in writing only is a matter for the Committee and for you. Attending with your lawyer or an adviser from your indemnity insurer lets the Committee see you answer its questions directly and gives you the chance to describe what you have changed. Decline an invitation to attend only on advice.
Can I see what the Committee has gathered about me?
Yes. Before it decides, the Committee must tell you the substance of the matters it is investigating and give you the material it will rely on, so that your response can address it. If you have not been given a document the Committee refers to, ask for it in writing. You can also ask the Committee to obtain records or statements that support your account. Your response should be written against the documents, not from memory alone.
How long does a PCC investigation take?
The Act does not set a time limit, and the length depends on the number of records and witnesses, whether an HDC process is still open, and whether you ask for extensions. An investigation can run for months. Use the time: supervision arranged, courses completed with dated certificates, an audit done and a written reflection are all evidence the Committee can weigh when it decides between a recommendation and a charge.
Will a PCC outcome be made public?
A PCC's recommendations are not published. What becomes public is any order that follows: conditions on your scope of practice or a suspension are entered on the public register, and if the Committee lays a charge the Tribunal's decision is published on its website with your name unless suppression is ordered. A decision that no further action is needed, or that you be counselled, stays between you and your authority.