Prohibition Orders and the Regulation of Unregistered Health Practitioners.

Abstract

Regulation of unregistered and deregistered health practitioners has been a policy objective of Australian governments for a number of years. A regulation scheme based upon New South Wales (NSW) and New Zealand models, and using broad-based, mandated codes of conduct, has gained momentum over the past decade. Prohibition orders are an integral part of the scheme. The removal from practice of the alternative health care practitioner, Barbara O'Neill, by the New South Wales Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) represents a high-profile assertion of the authority of evidence-based health care. It shows that Australia's "negative licensing scheme" has teeth and that it is working successfull..