Our Responsibilities

Our Responsibilities

The Board’s Role

The Podiatrists Board is a statutory body and operates under the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 (HPCAA) 

The purpose of the Act is to protect the health and safety of members of the public by providing for mechanisms to ensure that health practitioners are competent and fit to practise their professions.

Part 6 of the  HPCAA sets out the functions of the Board as follows:

  • to prescribe the qualifications required for scopes of practice within the profession, and for that purpose, to accredit and monitor educational institutions and degrees, courses of studies, or programmes
  • to authorise the registration of podiatrists under this Act, and to maintain registers
  • to consider application for annual practising certificates
  • to review and promote the competence of podiatrists
  • to recognise, accredit, and set programmes to ensure the ongoing competence of podiatrists
  • to receive and act on information from any person about the practice, conduct, or competence of podiatrists and, if it is appropriate to do so, act on that information
  • to notify employers, the Accident Compensation Corporation, the Director-General of Health, and the Health and Disability Commissioner that the practice of a podiatrist may pose a risk of harm to the public
  • to consider the case of podiatrists who may be unable to perform the functions required for the practice of the profession
  • to set standards of clinical competence, cultural competence (including competencies that will enable effective and respectful interaction with Māori), and ethical conduct to be observed by podiatrists
  • to liaise with other authorities appointed under the HPCA Act about matters of common interest
  • to promote and facilitate inter-disciplinary collaboration and co-operation in the delivery of podiatry services
  • to promote education and training in the profession
  • to promote public awareness of the responsibilities of the authority
  • to exercise and perform any other functions, powers, and duties that are conferred or imposed on it by or under this Act or any other enactment.

More about the Health Practitioners Competence Assurance Act 2003 

  • Scopes of practice describe the contents of the profession. The scope of practice (text or the title of the scope of practice) is required to be endorsed on each practitioner’s Annual Practising Certificate. Every practitioner who practises must have a current practising certificate.

    No person may claim to be practising a profession as a health practitioner of a particular kind or state, or do anything that is calculated to suggest that the person practises or is willing to practise a profession as a health practitioner of that kind unless the person: 

    (a) is a health practitioner of that kind: and
    (b) holds a current practising certificate as a health practitioner of that kind.

    Health practitioners must not practise outside their authorised scope of practice.

    Scope of practice means any health service that forms part of a health profession.

  • “Podiatrist” means a health practitioner who is, or is deemed to be, registered with the Podiatrists Board as a practitioner of the profession of podiatry.