Practising during COVID-19 pandemic - Andrew Charnock, Chief Executive & Registrar Mary Silcock, Professional Advisor 30 March 2020

Practising during COVID-19
         pandemic
            Andrew Charnock, Chief Executive & Registrar
                     Mary Silcock, Professional Advisor
                                        30 March 2020

Content of presentation
1. Occupational therapy and providing essential healthcare

2. Legislative framework which applies under a situation of national
   emergency

3. Advice from the OTBNZ perspective to help with ethical and clinical
   decision making

4. OTBNZ operations during the management of Covid 19

Occupational therapy and providing essential healthcare
1. As registered health practitioners occupational therapists are expected to provide
   and assist with delivering essential healthcare

2. OTBNZ has established a Special Purposes Scope of Practice – Responding to
   COVID-19.

3. Ministry of Health is co-ordinating the use of health practitioners who currently
   provide non-essential healthcare to support the health workforce to manage
   https://tinyurl.com/covid19nz

4. Employers can register to access healthcare workers if they need them

5. Ministry of Health Covid19 website provides information for use of personal protective
   equipment (PPE)

Legislative framework for practice
1. Health Practitioner Competence Assurance Act (2003) has allowances for states of
   emergency which are applied by the OTBNZ

2. Special Purposes Scope of Practice – Responding to COVID-19 has been established
   by OTBNZ

3. Practice needs to still be grounded in our OTBNZ Competencies, Code of Ethics and
   the Code of Rights

4. Application of other legislation such as the Health Information Privacy Code needs
   to occur for new ways of working in current environment

5. OTBNZ has guidelines for use of social media and electronic communication & is
   preparing a guideline of use of telehealth

Ethical and clinical considerations
1. Refer to Code of Ethics to guide decision making

2. We have ethical responsibilities to the people we work with as employers,
   managers, colleagues, service providers and to our own whanau bubble

3. Inequities in healthcare will be exacerbated when resources are limited

4. The Competencies for Registration provide clear standards of practice which
   expect equitable healthcare to be provided

5. Be mindful of who may be missing out on services and act on this

How OTBNZ will operate during lockdown
1. Prioritisation of any Ministry of Health workforce related work

2. Close collaboration with OTNZ-WNA & key occupational therapy leadership to
   provide consistent profession wide support

3. Business as usual with all staff working from home. Daily updates will be provided
   while necessary to keep the profession informed

4. ePortfolio auditing is being halted

5. Webinars will be planned when appropriate

6. Professional Advisor available for practitioners with individual practice issues

Useful Websites
• Te Rōpū Whakakaupapa Urutā – National Māori Pandemic Group https://www.uruta.maori.nz

• Ministry of Health https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-
  novel-coronavirus

• ACC https://www.acc.co.nz/covid-19/providers/?smooth-scroll=content-after-navs

• NZ Telehealth https://www.telehealth.org.nz/

• Ministry of Health Personal Protective Equipment guidelines
 https://www.health.govt.nz/our-work/diseases-and-conditions/covid-19-novel-
coronavirus/covid-19-novel-coronavirus-information-specific-audiences/covid-19-personal-
protective-equipment-essential-workers

• Occupational Therapy New Zealand-Whakaora Ngangahau Aotearoa (OTNZ-WNA)
  https://www.otnz.co.nz/

Andrew Charnock

General enquiries &                              Chief Executive/Registrar

technical support                                andrew@otboard.org.nz

enquiries@otboard.org.nz
0800997755                                        Mary Silcock
                                                  Professional Advisor
                                                  mary@otboard.org.nz
                                                  +64 4 918-4747

       https://www.facebook.com/OTBNZ
                                                 Toni Lancaster
                                                 Manager Registrations & Audits
                                                 toni@otboard.org.nz
       https://www.linkedin.com/company/otbnz/