Issue The National Boards have developed the policy to clarify the National Boards’ expected standards relating to social media use. The recent advent of social media, and its expanding use from a social networking tool to a medium for commercial/business related information sharing and advertising, has prompted the need for clarity. The development of the policy has been supported by requests from health practitioners and professional associations seeking guidance from the National Boards on this issue. The National Law contains provisions relating to advertising and all National Boards have published Guidelines for advertising of regulated health services and codes or guidelines relating to the expected standards of professional behaviour for health practitioners. The policy explains how these relate to social media and how existing health practitioner obligations regarding advertising, professional boundaries, privacy and confidentiality intersects with the use of social media. The policy reflects the National Boards’ role as regulatory bodies with respect to social media and does not provide more general professional advice, which is available from a number of professional bodies. As a part of the upcoming review of the National Boards’ codes and guidelines, the National Boards will consider the issues associated with social media and may as a part of that review include reference to social media, based on the final approved policy, within revised codes and guidelines. Your feedback The National Boards and AHPRA are seeking general comments on the policy. Please provide feedback by email to socialmediaconsult@ahpra.gov.au by close of 14 September 2012. The Boards generally publish submissions on their websites to encourage discussion and inform the community and stakeholders. Please let us know if you do not want us to publish your submission, or want us to treat all or part of it as confidential. We will not place on our website, or make available to the public, submissions that contain offensive or defamatory comments or which are outside the scope of reference. Before publication, we may remove personally-identifying information from submissions, including contact details. The views expressed in submissions are those of the individuals or organisations who submit them and their publication does not imply any acceptance of, or agreement with, these views by the Boards or AHPRA. The Boards also accept submissions made in confidence. These submissions will not be published on the website or elsewhere. Submissions may be confidential because they include personal experiences or other sensitive information. Any request for access to a confidential submission will be determined in accordance with the Freedom of Information Act 1982 (Cth) which has provisions designed to protect personal information and information given in confidence. Next steps Once the National Boards have considered the feedback from the preliminary consultation phase, it will release the policy for public consultation in accordance with the National Boards’ agreed consultation process.
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