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Review of private hospital and day procedure centre regulation
The Department is currently reviewing the Health Services (Private Hospitals and Day Procedure Centres) Regulations 2002 (the current regulations), which are due to expire in 2012. The current regulations support the regulatory framework for private hospitals and day procedure centres that is set out in Part IV of the Health Services Act 1988 (the Act).
Part IV of the Act requires private hospitals and day procedure centres that carry on or seek to carry on business in Victoria to be registered or approved in principle (in the case of a proposed facility) to do so. The current regulations prescribe:
- a range of 'health services' for the purposes of the definitions of 'private hospital' and 'day procedure centre' – effectively, the provision of prescribed health services brings private hospitals and day procedure centres within the scope of regulation in Part IV of the Act
- minimum standards of safety and quality for private hospitals and day procedure centres, including with respect to premises and equipment, infection control and appropriate staffing
- a range of machinery required to support the regulatory functions in Part IV of the Act, such as registration application forms and registration and annual fees and
- data provision requirements to support input from the private sector into the Victorian Admitted Episodes Dataset (VAED).
What is the objective of the regulation review?
The Subordinate Legislation Act 1994 generally requires that regulations made in Victoria to sunset (expire) ten years after the date on which they are made, unless they are earlier revoked. This is to ensure that regulations are regularly reviewed and that unnecessary regulations are automatically revoked. The Department is reviewing the current regulations for this purpose and expects to make appropriate replacement regulations before the current regulations sunset in September 2012.
The objectives of the review are to:
- review the content of current regulations that are due to expire because of the passage of time and in light of industry best practice and
- plan the content of future regulations to complement the Government's regulation of the sector, in consultation with the community and key stakeholders.
How are the regulations being reviewed?
The regulation review will consist of five distinct phases, as follows:- internal consultation
- external consultation
- development of regulatory policy options and draft regulations
- consultation on draft regulations
- settlement of regulations.
Responding to the Regulations Review consultation
Stakeholders and interested parties will have two opportunities to provide the Department with feedback to inform the review. Two separate rounds of public consultation will occur – phases two (external consultation) and four (consultation on draft regulations) of the review.
Phase two consultation is expected to commence shortly. This will be facilitated by the release of a discussion paper that will be available from this website.Who should I talk to?
For general enquiries about the regulation review, please contact the Policy Instruments and Compliance Unit on 9096 2164 or e-mail privatehealthregreview@health.vic.gov.au
Review of Health Records Regulations 2002
Private hospitals, day procedure centres and their patients may also be interested in a review of the Health Records Regulations 2002 (the records regulations). Access to health information such as medical records held by private hospitals and day procedure centres must generally be provided in accordance with the Health Records Act 2001 and the records regulations. Further information about that review is available here.
