GOV-032950
Annual Practising Certificate
Review Process
Clinical Staff at ACC
Last Updated: August 2022
Owner & Approver Chief Clinical Officer
Version
10. Updated August 2022
Reviewed by
Manager Strategic Clinical Advice and Governance
Business Advisor, Prevention & Partnerships
GOV-032950
1. Background
This document sets out the Annual Practising Certificate (APC) compliance and annual review
requirements for all ACC clinical staff in Clinical Services, Health Partnerships, and Specialist Cover
Assessment (SCA), where there is a business need for them to maintain their currency in clinical
practice.
Current APCs ensure that advisors provide credible quality clinical advice and/or can make robust
clinical quality cover decisions
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Each professional body has a requirement for Clinicians to hold a current APC to continue in clinical
practice. One prerequisite to maintaining an APC is the evidence of on-going continuing professional
development (CPD).
While it is the employee’s responsibility to ensure that they have a current APC, as the employer it is
appropriate process for ACC to check annually to ensure that they stil have a current APC.
2. Responsibilities
The Prevention & Partnerships DCE Office Admin Support team member will facilitate the process
checking APCs for all clinical staff on the behalf of the Chief Clinical Officer ([Out of Scope]
)/Manager
Strategic Clinical Advice and Governance ([Out of Scope]
)
3. How the APC process works
The completion of the annual APC review will occur four times each year – in January, April, July and
October. The instructions are set out below.
Step 1
Who
What
Business Advisor
• Email admin support team and ask them to begin the review to check that
all relevant staff have a current annual practicing certificate (APC).
• cc Manager Strategic Clinical Advice and Governance ([Out of Scope]
)
to confirm the process has commenced.
o Physiotherapy and Psychology expire 31 March each year
o Medicine, Nursing and other expire 12 months from first
registration date
• Note: PP Admin Support <[email address]> currently have a
recurring four-monthly reminder in their calendar to check in and follow
this process. Cc’d Business Advisors (currently [Out of Scope]
)
Step 2
Who
What
Admin Support
• To check the APCs for the staff, open the APC spreadsheet located in the
team member
following location Group - Chief Clinical Office - Documents Register - Al
Documents (sharepoint.com)
•
Note Save as a new version for each year. This is for assurance purposes,
so we can check back on previous records.
• Check that the list of clinical staff advisors is up to date (Use the CPD
spread sheet as this includes all staff entitled to CPD), all clinical advisors
are required to hold an APC and therefore should be included. Work with
1 Specialist Cover Assessors in Service Delivery (Client Services) make legislative decisions and use clinical knowledge to inform that.
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GOV-032950
P&P DCE Business Advisor who has access to the monthly HRIS data for
new starters and terminations.
• The Chief Clinical Officer is also required to hold an APC and must be
included.
• Some Clinical Advice Managers and people in the wider health
Partnerships team may hold an APC. Manager Strategic Clinical Advice
and Governance can advise which other people should also be included
on the spreadsheet.
*Service Delivery
• Provide to [email address] each month the list of
DCE Of ice (for
“Specialist Cover Assessors” from the monthly HRIS report (from finance.)
CPD list update)
Include the following detail: Staff ID, Name, Position, Team Leader, FTE,
Start Date. CPD Co-ordinator or Business Advisor to update CPD spread
sheet (this is part of the month-end CPD Process)
*CPD Admin
• CPD Co-ordinator or Business Advisor to confirm with the Specialist Cover
Support team
Assessment Team Leader of any new starter to confirm clinical discipline
member (for CPD
to enable both CPD and APC spread sheet to be updated.
list update)
Step 3
Who
What
Admin Support
• In the spreadsheet, check that each person has their relevant clinical
team member
professional group noted down next to their name. You need to know this
so you can check whether they have a current APC on their relevant
professional register.
• If there is not a professional group listed for a person, then ask their
Manager for this information and enter it in the spreadsheet.
Step 4
Who
What
Admin Support
• Links to all the professional groups’ registers are in Appendix A.
team member
• If there is no online register for a professional group, contact the
registration authority by email.
• Check the online registers for the APC information. You are checking for
their APC expiry date.
o If the date is dif erent to what is on the spreadsheet, then amend.
o If there is not a current APC, note that on the APC spreadsheet,
and inform the person’s Manager immediately.
Step 5
Who
What
Admin Support
• Once all the APC checks have been done, email the information to
team member
Business Advisor and Manager Strategic Clinical Advice and Governance
([Out of Scope]
).
• For each new starter, add to the APC list and get details from the Monthly
HRIS Report
• If a staff member is identified as not holding a current APC, email Line
Manager and cc in Manager Strategic Clinical Advice and Governance to
follow up.
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Step 7
Who
What
Manager Strategic • The Manager Strategic Clinical Advice and Governance ([Out of Scope]
)
Clinical Advice and
reviews the APC Spread sheet.
Governance
• They send link to Chief Clinical Officer if there are any concerns to raise.
Process Review
What
Manager Strategic Clinical Advice Undertake a Bi-annual review of this process to ensure it is
and Governance and
stil fit for purpose.
P&P DCE Business Advisor
Suggest this is undertaken in June of even numbered years.
Appendix A: Responsible Authority ‘Online’ Register Links
Details also found on Required Links tab on APC spreadsheet
Clinical Discipline
‘Online’ Register Link
Medical Laboratory
Medical Sciences Council of New Zealand
https:/ www.mscouncil.org.nz/
Medicine including Psychiatry
Medical Council of New Zealand
https://www.mcnz.org.nz/
Midwifery
Search the register (midwiferycouncil.health.nz)
Nursing
Nursing Council of New Zealand
http:/ www.nursingcouncil.org.nz/
Public Register (nursingcouncil.org.nz)
Occupational Therapy
Occupational Therapy Board of New Zealand
Search Public Registry - OTBNZ
Osteopathy
Osteopathic Council of New Zealand
http:/ www.osteopathiccouncil.org.nz/
Note: they list their registered members by date of registration and registration
number but not their APC expiry date, so when searching for Osteopaths, contact by
email to confirm their APC expiry dates.
Pharmaceutical
Pharmacy Council
http:/ www.pharmacycouncil.org.nz/Search-Register
Physiotherapy
Physiotherapy Board of New Zealand
http:/ www.physioboard.org.nz/
Podiatry
Podiatrists Board of New Zealand
Search Register – Podiatrists Board
Psychology
New Zealand Psychologists Board
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GOV-032950
http:/ www.psychologistsboard.org.nz/search-the-register
Psychotherapy
The Psychotherapists Board of Aotearoa New Zealand
http:/ pbanz.org.nz/index.php?PublicRegister
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Appendix B: APC Spreadsheet Template
Name
Team
Title
Professional Group
Annual Practice Certificate
Expiry Day/Month
Date Reviewed
APC Current
Yes/No
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