ACQ Vol 13 No1 2011

Professional issues

Ensuring the competency of the speech pathology workforce The need for a career and professional development framework Michelle Cimoli

The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for the Health Professions commenced in July 2010. Unfortunately, the speech pathology profession’s submission for inclusion in to the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme was unsuccessful. The submission prepared jointly by Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) and the Speech Pathologists Board of Queensland argued that existing governance and regulatory mechanisms directed at establishing and monitoring clinical practice standards, competency and professional conduct failed to provide integrated protection to the public. The advancement and expansion of the profession’s scope of practice was also discussed, including the risks to the public where these roles are performed without the competency to do so. In light of the profession’s unsuccessful application to be included in the National Accreditation and Registration Scheme, the speech pathology profession needs to determine processes for practice regulation such that the public can be assured of the competency of the entire speech pathology workforce, from entry-level practice, to more advanced and specialised roles. This paper discusses the current inadequacies in the profession’s governance and regulatory mechanisms, and suggests that a career and professional development framework could be implemented as a quality assurance mechanism to address these issues. Regulation of practice to ensure public safety Occupational regulation of health professions is a mechanism through which the public accessing health care services is protected through effective monitoring of the safety and quality of care delivered by health professionals

(Carlton, 2008). The National Registration and Accreditation Scheme for the Health Professions was introduced in July 2010 and provides a framework for occupational regulation that is enabled through statutory registration. Statutory registration supports regulatory functions through legislated scopes of practice, codes of conduct and restriction of profession titles. These functions are achieved by controlling entry to a profession, maintaining a register of qualified health professionals, accrediting programs of study, setting standards of clinical practice and codes of conduct, investigating and dealing with complaints, and managing issues regarding practitioner ill-health (Carlton, 2008). Ten professions are currently included in the scheme, including chiropractors, dentists, medical practitioners, nurses and midwives, optometrists, osteopaths, pharmacists, physiotherapists and podiatrists. These professions were included on the basis that they already operated within a statutory registration framework in most jurisdictions in Australia. In July 2008, the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council (AHMAC) called for submissions from partially regulated professions wishing to be considered for inclusion in the scheme. Speech pathology is considered to be a partially regulated profession given that it is a registered profession only in the state of Queensland. Speech Pathology Australia (SPA) in conjunction with the Speech Pathologists Board of Queensland, on behalf of the speech pathology profession in Australia, lodged a submission to be included in the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme. The submission conveyed the profession’s intent that statutory registration of the speech pathology profession across all jurisdictions would provide a quality assurance and risk management framework to safeguard public safety, thereby addressing the risks of physical, social and emotional harm posed by speech pathology practice. Sound evidence was provided of the disjointed nature of existing regulatory and governance mechanisms that are unable to apply sufficient powers across the entire profession to enable the public to be effectively protected. Mechanisms provided by the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme including establishing and instating a professional board, would enable the public to identify those speech pathologists (SPs) who possess the necessary competencies and qualifications to deliver speech pathology services, and provide the public with an avenue for addressing complaints about services or professionals (SPA & The Speech Pathologists Board of Queensland, 2008). This is in contrast to functions undertaken by SPA,

Keywords CAREER

FRAMEWORK COMPETENCY PRACTICE REGULATION SCOPE OF PRACTICE WORKFORCE

This article has been peer- reviewed

Michelle Cimoli

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ACQ Volume 13, Number 1 2011

www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au