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Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994

Complaints and investigations - Investigations by Commissioner

40: Commissioner may investigate breaches

You could also call this:

"The Commissioner checks if healthcare providers are following the rules and treats people fairly."

Illustration for Health and Disability Commissioner Act 1994

The Commissioner can decide to investigate a health care provider or a disability services provider if they think the provider has broken the Code. You can think of the Code as a set of rules that providers must follow. The Commissioner can look into what happened to see if the provider did something wrong.

The Commissioner can also investigate a health practitioner for something they did before 1 July 1996, if it affected a health consumer and was against the rules at the time. This means the Commissioner can look at old cases to see if the health practitioner did something wrong.

The Commissioner can start an investigation because someone complained or because they want to look into something on their own. They can do this to make sure health care providers and health practitioners are following the rules and treating people fairly.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM333981.

Topics:
Health and wellbeing > Healthcare servicesRights and equality > Anti-discrimination
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39: Commissioner to inform agencies of certain risks, or

"The Commissioner must warn people about health risks to keep you safe."

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41: Complainant and provider to be notified of investigation, or

"The Commissioner tells you and your healthcare provider about the investigation and gives them a chance to respond."

Part 4Complaints and investigations
Investigations by Commissioner

40Commissioner may investigate breaches

  1. The Commissioner may decide to investigate any action of a health care provider or a disability services provider if the action is, or appears to the Commissioner to be, in breach of the Code.

  2. The Commissioner may investigate any action of a health practitioner that was taken at any time before 1 July 1996, if it appears that the action affected a health consumer and was, at the time that it was taken, a ground for bringing disciplinary proceedings against the health practitioner under a former health registration enactment.

  3. The Commissioner may investigate an action under this section either on complaint or on the Commissioner’s own initiative.

Notes
  • Section 40: substituted, on , by section 9 of the Health and Disability Commissioner Amendment Act 2003 (2003 No 49).