Minister’s interference with Medical Council independence is the real political agenda

The New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association says Health Minister Simeon Brown’s decision to remove the leadership of the Medical Council over a so-called “ideological agenda” is a troubling example of political interference in what should be independent health regulation.

The Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act exists to protect the health and safety of the public by ensuring practitioners are competent and fit to practise. The Medical Council’s role is to register doctors, set professional standards, and protect patients and the public. It is not responsible for fixing the government’s failures on access to care, workforce shortages, health system performance or further the political interests of the government of the day.

“Cultural safety is not an ideological agenda. It is a fundamental part of good medical practice,” said NZRDA National Secretary Dr Deborah Powell. “Doctors work with people from all backgrounds and communities. Safe, competent care requires doctors to understand how their own position, bias, culture, and communication affect clinical decisions and, ultimately, patient outcomes. That is true in Aotearoa New Zealand, and it is true across health systems internationally.”

“If the Minister wants better access to healthcare and improved patient outcomes, he should focus on resourcing hospitals, retaining doctors, and addressing the workforce crisis,” said Dr Powell. “He should not scapegoat independent regulators for doing their job.”

The RDA is deeply concerned that this intervention, within the context of the recent mass resignation of the Psychotherapists Board, is foreshadowing a new modus operandi with the upcoming Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Amendment Bill.

Independent regulators must be able to set standards based on evidence, professional expertise, and always with the safety of patients and the public at their heart. Attempts to override this independence should concern every patient, every doctor, and every person in New Zealand.

NZRDA calls on the Minister to stop undermining health practitioner regulator independence and to ensure that regulatory amendments put patient safety – not political preferences – at their core.

“Patients are safest when professional standards are set independently, transparently, and in the public interest,” said Dr Powell. “The Minister’s actions risk taking us in the opposite direction.”

ENDS

For further information please contact:

Dr Rosa Tobin Stickings
President, New Zealand Resident Doctors’ Association
027 667 6176