New professional regulation measures in the UK

At a time when significant reform of the regulation of health professions is underway in Australia, members may be interested to note the parallel developments occurring in the UK.

The UK Department of Health has published a White Paper which outlines how they propose the regulation of healthcare professionals will be 'improved' to ensure the safety of patients.

The White Paper called 'Trust, Assurance and Safety – The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century' introduces measures to:
• make regulators more independent by appointing council members and an independent adjudicator for doctors
• revalidate healthcare professionals throughout their career and ensure they remain up to date with clinical best practice
• create a regional General Medical Council (GMC) Affiliates system to help deal with more cases at a local level.

Links:
Reform of professional regulation and clinical governance
Historic reform to the regulation of health professionals - DH press release (opens new window)

Choice calls for fluoride in bottle water

The Australian Consumers Association has called for manufacturers to be able to add fluoride to some bottled water, saying this would help arrest the dramatic increase in children's tooth decay.

A front page story in The Age today notes that "Australian Beverages Council chief executive Tony Gentile, in Canberra yesterday to lobby the Government to overturn the ban on added fluoride in bottled water, said bottled water was not linked to the increase in children's tooth decay."

"We believe that the industry is unfairly accused of being a contributor to the rising levels of dental decay … It's due to a multiplicity of other factors including poor dental hygiene and the lack of fluoride in some tap water," he said.

Success with bioengineered teeth

Japanese researchers have bioengineered teeth and successfully implanted them in mice.

Writing in the online Journal Nature Methods, they describe how they took two kinds of cell and developed them into a tooth.

The article notes "the researchers say their success could pave the way for more organs to be grown in the lab and transplanted".

Product recall - Periodontal Paste

Therapeutic Goods Administration has advised the recall of all batches of AVC Periodontal Paste (ARTG number 122921).

The recall notice states "Manufacture of the goods has been carried out by a manufacturer while the manufacturer did not hold a current licence and the goods have been supplied whilst not complying with the applicable standards such including labelling".

National Registration Boards - Minister's Speech

Friday's Blog entry about the Federal Government changing its position about the structure of the new national health registration boards noted that Federal Minister for Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, was expected to announce this change at a conference on Friday 16 February.

Minister Abbott's speech notes for the Global Access Partners Conference at Parliament House Melbourne, entitled "Do no harm - Health Policy Issues in 2007," are now available at the Minister's website. Those interested in his comments about the registration boards should refer to pages 5 and 6 of the pdf version of the speech.

National Registration Board changes

Very significant news affecting all Australian health practitioners appears in today's press. The Age reports that the Federal Government is expected to announce that the previous plan to establish a single national registration board for all major health occupations will be replaced by a plan to create nine separate national boards.

"Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott is expected to tell a conference on ageing in Melbourne today that there had been concerns that a single board could be used to determine the functions of different health workers rather than simply determining their competence."

The Age story also suggests that:

• Canberra believes health registration should be about public safety, and making it easier for health workers to practise anywhere in Australia, not about changing the demarcations between the professions.
• The proposed national boards would be set up in a similar way to present state registration boards.
• The chairs of all the different boards would form a committee — but would not have any authority over the boards.

More details will be advised about the new proposals as they become available.

Dentists banned from endorsing therapeutic products

The Assistant Minister for Health and Ageing, Christopher Pyne, announced yesterday that doctors, dentists and other health professionals will be banned from endorsing therapeutic products in advertisements.

Mr Pyne said he had asked the Therapeutic Goods Advertising Code Council to consider the issue and it had recommended that the practice be banned.

Dentists and pharmacists have appeared in recent advertisements recommending products such as toothpaste and pain relief medications.

The Age published a story about this matter today.

MBF rings alarm at rate of child hospital admissions for dental care

MBF has issued a media release drawing attention to a significant increase in the number of children being admitted to hospital for dental treatment.