The NSW Minister of Health has introduced into the Parliament the Health Services Amendment (Paramedics) Bill 2015. The Bill, if passed will make it illegal for anyone who is not a paramedic to ‘hold himself or herself out to be a paramedic’.
The maximum penalty will be 100 penalty units or $11 000. (A penalty unit is $110 (Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW) s 17). Penalty units are used to allow the government to adjust fines by amending the value of a unit rather than having to go through and amend every Act that has a financial penalty).
So who is a paramedic? Three classes of people will be able to call themselves a paramedic, they wil be:
1) a person holding a qualification, or who has received training, or who has relevant experience, as set out in the regulations (that are yet to be written);
2) a person ‘authorised under the legislation of another Australian jurisdiction’ to call themselves a ‘paramedic’; or
3) an employee of the Ambulance Service of NSW, or other person, authorised by the Health Secretary to use that title.
The interesting category is the second category. Tasmania and South Australia have taken steps to protect the title of ‘paramedic’ – see ‘Protecting the title of Paramedic (South Australia)’, October 2, 2014 and ‘Ambulance Service Amendment Act 2013 (Tas)’ January 24, 2014) so there are people who are ‘authorised under the legislation [of South Australia and Tasmania] … to hold himself or herself out to be a paramedic’ but what of the other states. In those states anyone can call themselves a paramedic but that authority is not granted by legislation. This may cause difficulties for paramedics who may be required to cross the border whether it’s Victorian or Queensland paramedics working cross border, or those from WA or the NT who might come to assist during a NSW disaster. This will not be an issue if those paramedics have a prescribed qualification, experience or training but if they don’t then they can’t use the title ‘paramedic’ in NSW. In those circumstances the Health Secretary may have to give a special authority to allow those paramedics to keep the title when working in NSW.
Australian Emergency Law 
Watching with interest!
Regards
David Watson
Ambulance Private.
Protect it from what exactly? This seems like a lot of time, resources and funds poured into yet another boys club item. I have yet to meet someone wrongly calling themselves a paramedic.
Steve, how would you, or more importantly a patient or event organiser, know if someone was ‘wrongly calling themselves a paramedic’? Without title protection there is no ‘wrong’ in any person calling themselves a paramedic and no-one can know what skills or training they have from the title they chose to use. There are many private providers of paramedic services (see http://www.privateparamedicine.com.au/about-ppa/) and I’m sure they are competent and effective but what is a ‘paramedic’ is up to the employer to decide. Title protection is problematic as it does favour the state ambulance services and as PPA says ‘The historic circumstance where paramedics were only employed by state ambulance services has long gone’ so, professional registration would be a much better option; but pending that legislated title protection does do something to reflect that those we want to recognise as health care professionals are identified and the term ‘paramedic’ has some meaning.
In my book, Emergency Law (4th ed Federation Press, 2013) I wrote on p 39:
Michael, thank you for your speedy reply.
With title protection coming into play, how are patients or event organisers going to know if someone was wrongly calling themselves a paramedic?
But more so, how does it matter? I personally don’t look up every GP or nurse in A&E on AHPRA to make sure they’re registered. I am trusting the organisation to make sure people are trained to the level required.
Furthermore even if there were an AHPRA style database to look up each and every individual paramedic on a crew, what does this tell me as a patient or event organiser about their scope of practice or restrictions?
How do I know whether their employer has the correct insurance policies and drug licenses in NSW?
Steve
It’s true enough we don’t all look up the registration details of the doctor we chose to go and see and we can’t for the doctors and nurses where we don’t get a choice eg when we’re wheeled into casualty. It does however provide some protection, like most law it’s most direct application is after the fact eg when someone is caught doing the wrong thing, but it does have some application before the fact.
Putting fraudsters and shonks aside, most people that want to run a private ambulance service are going to try to comply with the law. With the passage of the Bill they will know who they can label a paramedic and who they can’t. Equally if we assume people are trying to comply with the law then as a patient I could take some comfort that a person wearing a badge that says ‘paramedic’ has the relevant training or experience. Of course if someone wants to be a shonk or a fraud they can put a paramedic badge on but at least with the passage of the Bill, they would be committing a criminal offence. The criminal law is always reactive but it does we hope serve some purpose.
“Steve, how would you, or more importantly a patient or event organiser, know if someone was ‘wrongly calling themselves a paramedic’?”
The answer to this in short is – their qualifications. The industry skills councils and ASQA do this for me by attaching occupational titles to individual qualifications.
http://training.gov.au/Training/Details/HLT50412 = Paramedic
http://training.gov.au/Training/Details/HLT41012 = Ambulance Officer
But I don’t need any of those qualifications to use those titles, I can call myself a paramedic and all I have is an out of date first aid certificate. Or I may have a degree in paramedicine and think people who call themselves a paramedic with a Diploma of Paramedical Science (Ambulance) should not be called a paramedic. With my first aid certificate, I’m not ‘wrongly’ calling myself a paramedic – there is nothing ‘wrong’ (read illegal, unlawful or prohibited) if I use the title as a I see fit.
” … if someone wants to be a shonk or a fraud they can put a paramedic badge on but at least with the passage of the Bill, they would be committing a criminal offence.”
Is this something that happens a lot? Is the reason this bill has been pushed and pushed by unions and other groups because there have been precedents and a load of cases to prove a need for such protection?
“Or I may have a degree in paramedicine and think people who call themselves a paramedic with a Diploma of Paramedical Science (Ambulance) should not be called a paramedic.”
That would put over 50% (guesstimation) of all current GD paramedics at ASNSW in a very awkward position.
I still maintain that this (IMHO elitist) push for tile protection does nothing for patients and event organisers as there is no way of checking up on paramedics and more importantly it does not tell you what scope of practice they have been given and what insurances and licenses their employers hold.
” … if someone wants to be a shonk or a fraud they can put a paramedic badge on but at least with the passage of the Bill, they would be committing a criminal offence.” Is this something that happens a lot?
No I don’t think it happens a lot.
I think the reason the Bill is being pushed is because it’s a stop gap pending national registration under the AHPRA model; and I think the reason that registration is being pushed is to raise the standing of paramedics and to recognise that today they have independent capacity to make decisions and that they are health professionals not just stretcher bearers. It’s true that the move to degree qualifications will put GD paramedics in an awkward position hence the Bill says that one group of people that can call themselves a paramedic, are those employed by NSW Ambulance and authorised by the Health Secretary to use the title. In the push for registration there will also need to be a ‘grandfather’ clause to allow people who are currently working as paramedics to retain the title even if they don’t have the relevant qualification. Further by having it determined for example that the Diploma is sufficient that will remove that awkwardness because it will tell those that hold the degree that the holders of a Diploma are equally entitled to use the title. My earlier comment was not to suggest that the Diploma should not be a benchmark qualification, but given there is no standard at the moment, some might want to argue that a person with the diploma is ‘wrongly’ holding themselves out to be a paramedic. The Bill (assuming the Diploma is a prescribed qualification) defeats that argument.
Just wondering what potential implications this bill has on other businesses. To illustrate; is PC paramedics, a computer repair business, effected were this bill to pass?
My interpretation says they would. What say you good sir?
Cheers Keith
The Bill, if passed, will make it an offence for a ‘person who is not a paramedic must not, in any way, hold himself or herself out to be a paramedic’. It does not say it is an offence to ‘use the title’ of paramedic. To hold onself out is to say, or to give the impression that you are a paramedic, which in this case means that you fall within one of the three categories of people who can call themselves a paramedic.
I don’t suppose calling a business PC Paramedics would suggest or mislead anyone into thinking that the company is employing paramedics as defined. Of course whether that’s true depends on how they market their business; but in essence they’re not caught (or more importantly, won’t be if the Bill is passed) simply because they use the term Paramedic if there is no reasonable possibility that anyone would be confused or mislead, or that it could be inferred that they are trying to imply their staff are paramedics.
This i feel is a move in the right direction. At least with this legislation its not stated as NSWA only and related to qualifications. It will level the playing feild within the events industry and the right price for the right job.
So in Qld, where there is no protection of the title, anyone can, by legislation (or lack of it), call themselves a paramedic. Therefore they can also call themselves a paramedic in NSW?
There is no specifically relevant legislation in Queensland so no-one has is ‘authorised under the legislation of’ Queensland to call themselves a ‘paramedic’ but actually, if it came to it I don’t think a court would see it quite that way. For a person who was just holding themselves out as a paramedic, then they have no right under Qld legislation and no right under NSW law should this Bill pass. Queensland paramedics, ie those employed by Queensland Ambulance and called a paramedic by QAS will I’m sure be allowed to call themselves a paramedic in NSW. Even though the Ambulance Service Act 1991 (Qld) doesn’t specifically protect the title, or authorise its use, a judge would have no difficulty in saying that a person employed by QAS and given the title ‘paramedic’ is authorised under the Qld Act. The alternative, that a Qld paramedic who drives across the border as part of his or her duties is somehow committing an offence is just too silly.
Dear M. Eburn,
I’m doing an assignment on paramedicine and cannot find the current NSW legislation as at today, regarding requirements on holding the title ‘paramedic’.
Would you please assist.
Many thanks,
Tara
You’re looking for the Health Services Act 1997 (NSW) s 67ZDA (http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/act/1997/154) and the Health Services Regulation 2013 (NSW) r 19A (http://www.legislation.nsw.gov.au/#/view/regulation/2013/479).
Good luck with the assignment.