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Grandparents
Background A 'grandparented' practitioner is any practitioner who was granted registration under Section 94 of the Chinese Medicine Registration Act 2000 (CMR Act). Commonly known as the grandparenting provision, this section of the CMR Act provided a transitional mechanism for assessing existing practitioners during the first three years of registration. The provision ended on 31 December 2004. Since that date all applicants for registration have had to satisfy Section 5 of the CMR Act and subsequently Section 5 of the Health Professions Registration Act 2005 (HPR Act). This means that all applicants have to either complete a CMR Board-approved course or sit and pass the CMR Board's registration examination. Over time the CMR Board office staff has been surprised at the number of people who do not realise they were 'grandparented'. Many practitioners mistakenly think that the course they completed was a CMR Board approved course. However, unless the course of study was approved by the Board at the time it was completed, it does not qualify as a CMR Board approved course. Therefore, many practitioners were, by necessity, grandparented. The first course approval was announced in February 2003, the Advanced Diploma course offered by Southern School of Natural Therapy. The next approval after that was an RMIT course approved in October 2003. This process continued, with courses for some institutions still being approved for the first time for some years to come. Practitioners who first became registered between 1 January 2002 and 9 June 2003 could only be grandparented. Practitioners who first became registered between 10 June 2003 and 1 July 2005 were most likely grandparented. Change to Health Professions Registration Act 2005 In July 2007 the CMR Board began operating under new legislation, the Health Professions Registration Act 2005. In order to be 'deemed' across to the new Act, grandparented practitioners had to either: In the period leading up to the change of Act the CMR Board office staff contacted all grandparented practitioners to inform them of their options. The Board provided all grandparented practitioners who had 'deferred' their registration i.e. they had been approved but not taken up the option to register, the option of registering for one day on 30 June 2007. Pathways to Maintain 'Grandparented' Registration Status under the HPR Act Under the HPR Act practitioners are able to hold practising or non-practising registration. However, there are some restrictions on the rights of grandparented practitioners to access practising (general) registration again after having ceased practising (general) registration. A practitioner might cease practising (general) registration for any of the following reasons: Under the HPR Act grandparented practitioners who cease practising (general) registration have up to 2 years to apply for re-registration (either practising or non-practising) based on their previous grandparenting status. After 2 years they may have problems. An important development for all practitioners under the HPR Act was the introduction of non-practising registration. Grandparented practitioners who apply for non-practising registration need to understand the implications this can have on their right to access practising (general) registration in the future. Grandparented practitioners who apply for or move to non-practising registration must be aware that the must maintain their non-practising registration continuously if they find that it is more than 2 years since they last had practising (general) registration. This is an important point. The only time that is okay to have a gap in non-practising registration is if general registration was held within the last two years. If for example a grandparented practitioner was registered for practising (general) registration in one year, then allowed their registration to lapse for one year then took up non-practising registration at the end of that non-practising year the practitioner, if again renewing as non-practising, would have to keep that non-practising registration continuously until the time the practitioner moved back to practising. The various pathways available to grandparented practitioners have been outlined in a flowchart available here. Flowchart - Pathways to Maintain 'Grandparented' Registration Status (PDF 35Kb)Consequence of Loss of 'Grandparenting' Status Loss of grandparent status will mean, in general, that in order to become registered under the HPR Act practitioners will need to study a Board approved course or pass a Board examination. If you do not renew by 30 September in any year the Board must (by law) remove your name from the register of practitioners. The 2-year clock then starts ticking. Confirm Your Status If you are unsure about your 'grandparent' status or wish to seek further clarification about the effects of the HPR Act on your registration please contact the office on 03 9499 3800 or email us at admin@cmrb.vic.gov.au. Complaints about the Restriction on 'Grandparented' Practitioners In the original HPR legislation, grandparented practitioners did not have the "two year window" to re-registration if practising (general) registration was ceased. The Board brought that anomaly to the attention of the Victorian government and urged that the law be amended so as not to be unfair to grandparented practitioners, who could lose their livelihoods if they lost their rights to practise. The law was amended by the government but not in the manner recommended by the Board. The amendment created the "two year window of opportunity". For those affected by the new law, the Board has provided assistance by providing this information in newsletters, on the website and individually to practitioners who have provided contact details. The Board, however, can only operate within the legal framework established by government. Please contact the following government departments if you wish to provide your views about the HPR legislation. Department of Human Services Health Minister Daniel Andrews |
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