Task details:

Public Health Practitioners are an important asset and part of the Australian Health Care System. Many universities offer specific under- and postgraduate courses to prepare the next generation of practitioners for the real world.

However, in Australia, anyone can call themselves a ‘Public Health Expert’ or ‘Public Health Practitioner’ regardless of their educational background and qualifications.

In Australia, the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency is responsible for regulating a range of health professions. Watch their short video [1:38 min] Health practitioner regulation: Learn how you’re protected. (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site.

The current intergovernmental criteria for assessing the need for statutory regulation of unregulated professions are:

• Criterion 1
  It is appropriate for health ministers to exercise responsibility for regulating the occupation in question, or does the occupation more appropriately fall within the domain of another ministry?
• Criterion 2
  Do the activities of the occupation pose a significant risk of harm to the health and safety of the public?
• Criterion 3
  Do existing regulatory (or other) mechanisms fail to address health and safety issues?
• Criterion 4
  Is regulation possible to implement for the occupation in question?
• Criterion 5
  Is regulation practical to implement for the occupation in question?
• Criterion 6
  Do the benefits to the public of regulation clearly outweigh the potential negative impact of such regulation?

-Based on these criteria critically assess the need for statutory regulation of Public Health Practitioners.

-What would be a potential implication of this for the quality of health promotion?

Assessment criteria: Grading is based on the Depth and Complexity of the argument, Quality of references as well as referencing and writing ability. ( around 3 references with high quality)

Length: Approximately 250 words.