Speak Out June 2019

Ethics

NEW CHAIR SPEECH PATHOLOGY AUSTRALIA ETHICS BOARD

Farewell to the outgoing Chair: Associate Professor Suze Leitão

At the Speech Pathology Australia AGM on Monday 3 June, Dr Trish Bradd was appointed as the new Chair of the SPA Ethics Board. Dr Bradd is a Fellow of the Association and is well known as an inspirational leader in the speech pathology profession in Australia. Dr Bradd has extensive experience in provision of clinical services and management of speech pathology within healthcare and recently was awarded a PhD for her work on Allied Health leadership development. Dr Bradd has had a strong and sustained involvement with Speech Pathology Australia for many years. She has been a Senior Member on the Ethics Board since 2010, was national president of SPA between 2005-2006 and prior to that was on the NSW Branch Executive for many years. The Ethics Board is pleased to welcome to Dr Bradd to this role.

Suze Leitão is another well-known leader in speech pathology who has contributed significantly to the profession in many ways including through her work for the Association. Assoc Prof Leitão has completed 11 years consecutive service on the Ethics Board, two initial years as a Senior Member then the last nine years as the Chair. Suze embodied the values of our profession in her role as the Chair of the Ethics Board: integrity, professionalism, respect and care, and a firm commitment to quality standards including awareness and maintenance of personal competence, and she will be greatly missed by the members of the Ethics Board and National Office staff. The wisdom, reasoning and casuistry she brought to the role provided significant benefit to the Ethics Board, the Association, her colleagues and the profession. committee to incorporate into the review. Focus groups have commenced with an initial session for Victorian members on 21 May 2019. Further groups are planned for locations across Australia, including meetings via videoconference for rural and remote members. Key external stakeholders and consumers will also be invited to participate in separate focus groups. Further details regarding venues and times for member focus groups will be announced in branch e-news. Please keep an eye on emails and e-news for updates and information or contact Trish Johnson, Manager Ethics and Professional issues, at National Office if you have a question or to sign up for the focus group near you. Remember, you can earn CPD points for attending.

Contribute to the future of our profession SPA IS OFFERING MEMBERS THE OPPORTUNITY TO GET INVOLVED IN THE REVIEW OF A CORE PROFESSIONAL DOCUMENT – THE SPA CODE OF ETHICS.

The SPA Code of Ethics underpins professional practice and is a resource speech pathologists can use to support ethical decision making. SPA is now offering members the opportunity to participate in small focus groups, to explore how the code should evolve to continue to support our profession. SPA initially developed the code for members in 1976 and it has been reviewed regularly since then to ensure currency and relevance for the profession, consumers of speech pathology services and the broader community. A project is currently underway to review the code, with the next version to be published in 2020. A big thank you to the 750 members who contributed to the member survey undertaken in March. The responses were thoughtful and provide rich information for the project sub-

Member focus groups:

State

Date

Queensland – National Conference in Brisbane

Tuesday 4 June

South Australia

Wednesday 26 June

Tasmania

Tuesday 2 July Monday 22 July Monday 29 July Tuesday 30 July

Western Australia

ACT NSW

Rural and remote videoconferences

Monday 19 August Thursday 29 August Monday 9 September

Northern Territory

The Victorian Member Focus Group gathered at National Office in May.

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June 2019 www.speechpathologyaustralia.org.au

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