Australian Government Codes of Conduct for health Care Workers

The National Code of Conduct for Healthcare Workers sets out a range of minimum standards for health practitioners not regulated by AHPRA (the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency). This National Code, agreed to by the Australian Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council in April 2015, is intended to be enacted by every Australian state and territory.

While Hypnotherapy and Psychotherapy are self-regulating professions, the Australian Hypnotherapists’ Association have a registration system in place, consisting of codes of Ethics, conduct, professional standards, policies and procedures to self-regulate our members. The government, however, still treats us as “unregistered” because we are not covered by the mandatory registration requirements of AHPRA.

Some states, ACT, New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and South Australia have introduced the National Code of Conduct to provide some accountability for unregulated practices, although the requirements in the Codes are very generic and are not always relevant to Clinical Hypnotherapists, Counsellors and / or Psychotherapists.

Tasmania, Western Australia and NT have not yet implemented this code. Practitioners in these states and territories should be aware that the Codes are expected to be introduced nationwide in the future.