RACS supports reforming the National Registration and Accreditation Scheme (NRAS) where it enhances patient safety and clinical standards and supports profession-led governance. Regulation must be designed for patient safety, not for efficiency. RACS will not support any changes to the NRAS system of regulation that compromises the public’s protection with respect to safe, competent and ethical care, and focuses instead on workforce at the system level. We believe regulation should always be patient safety focused and not be compromised at the expense of workforce flexibility, bureaucracy, or convenience in regulation systems.
While the Consultation Paper attempts to address genuine complexity in NRAS, from a surgical and regulatory stewardship perspective, the tone and framing of many of the proposals are perceived as confrontational, unduly technocratic, or dismissive of the central role of specialist medical colleges such as RACS. In particular, the assumption that colleges are monopolistic gatekeepers disregards the wide and independent governance, peer-reviewed examinations, and service-driven mission of RACS. The profession is not immune to reform, but this must be achieved through true partnership, rather than through unilateral action.
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