IMPORTANT NOTICE RE AS/NZS4187:2014

UPDATE: Re AS/NZS 4187:2014
November 26, 2019

Recently you may have all heard rumblings regarding the standard AS/NZS4187:2014

NZ has representation on the joint standard committee HE-023 which develops and updates the standard.

Standards NZ has always paid costs to Standards Australia  for NZ to be represented on the committee and this has been recouped from the Ministry of Health.

Apparently the ministry of health stated to standards NZ that they would not be paying the $26k required and therefore Standards NZ pulled the plug on the joint standard (without NZSSA receiving any notice) therefore any updates to the standard would be an Australian standard only. This would effectively leave us out in the cold.

The infection Control College is seriously concerned about this matter as am I, and I have talked with many people regarding the issue. The IPC College are working alongside us , and for those in DHB’s the Directors of Allied health have also taken up the issue. if all else fails the IPC and NZSSA are considering paying the fee to ensure that we maintain the joint standard for at least another year in order to buy us time to source an alternative. However we do not feel that as non -profit organisations we should be funding a document that is widely used in NZ by many professions and should be paid for by the ministry of health.

I have written to the Minister of Health, The National  Party spokesperson for health, The Chief Allied Health Professions Officer and the Director General for Health.

As a result I have a meeting at the Ministry of Health tomorrow  the 26th November. I shall be attending with Carolyn Clissold, Chair of IPC and Alison Stewart who has been the NZ representative on HE-023..

I shall keep you updated on the outcome of that meeting.

In the meantime we continue to use AS/NZS4187:2014

 

Shelagh Thomas

President NZSSA