Radiographers Registration Board Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics Bye-law 2013

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Citation: IR SI 392/2013
• Year: 2013

Notice of the making of this Statutory Instrument was published in

“Iris Oifigiúil” of 15th October, 2013.

The Radiographers Registration Board, in exercise of the powers conferred in it by section 31 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended), with the approval of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, hereby makes the following bye-law:

1. This bye-law may be cited as the Radiographers Registration Board Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics Bye-law 2013.

2. The Radiographers Registration Board hereby adopts the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics (the “Code”) contained in the schedule to this bye-law.

3. The Code is hereby incorporated by reference into, and forms part of, this bye-law.

4. This bye-law comes into operation on 11 October 2013.

SCHEDULE

Radiographers Registration Board

Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics

Contents

Foreword .............. 5

About the Code .............. 6

Conduct .............. 8

Performance .............. 11

Ethics .............. 15

Appendix A - Suggested procedure for ethical decision-making .............. 18

Bibliography .............. 19

Foreword

I am pleased to present the Radiographers Registration Board (RRB) Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. The code specifies the standards of conduct, performance and ethics expected of registrants in either the radiographer or radiation therapist division of the Board’s Register.

The Radiographers Registration Board was appointed on 24 January 2012 by the Minister for Health, Dr James Reilly. The Board is one of twelve Registration Boards to be established under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 . The twelve Boards and the Health and Social Care Professionals Council operate under the umbrella of CORU. The purpose of CORU is to protect the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct, professional education, training and competence among registrants.

In 2010, the Health and Social Care Professionals Council at CORU developed a framework code detailing common standards across its twelve constituent boards. The Radiographers Registration Board, made up of both lay members and representatives of the profession, have carefully adapted the framework with additional assistance from experts external to the Board, a public consultation and international best practice. A scheduled review of the Framework Code conducted by the Health and Social Care Professionals Council early in 2013 has also been considered by the Board and is also reflected in this document.

The Code reflects the needs of patients and the standards they can expect when dealing with the practice of radiography and radiation therapy in this State. Each year registrants will be asked to pledge that they comply with the Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. It is essential that all registrants read, understand and meet the standards set out in this Code. Failure to meet the standards could result in a complaint of professional misconduct being made about the registrant.

Under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 , professional misconduct is defined as “a breach of the code of professional conduct and ethics adopted by the registration board of that profession.”

As the goal of the RRB is to protect the public by fostering high standards of professional conduct, education, training and competence among registrants, adopting this Code is a major milestone in this process. As the professions develop, the RRB is committed to continually reviewing these standards and will ensure that they remain both relevant and comprehensive.

Jason Last

Chairperson

October 2013

About the Code

As a registrant you must comply with this Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics. It is recognised that ethical decision making presents challenges and it is suggested that the paradigm in Appendix A should be consulted.

Registrants must be aware that a breach or breaches of this Code could be held to be professional misconduct and could result in a disciplinary sanction being imposed following a fitness to practise inquiry.

In this document:

• ‘you must’ is used as an overriding principle or duty;

• ‘you should’ is used where the principle or duty may not apply in all cases or where there are factors outside your control affecting your ability to comply.

Below is a summary of your responsibilities as a registrant grouped into three categories: conduct, performance and ethics.

Conduct

1. Act in the best interests of patients.

2. Ensure the health, welfare, protection and safety of patients, carers, colleagues and the public with regard to radiation safety.

3. Respect the confidentiality and privacy of patients and their families.

4. Maintain high standards of personal conduct and behaviour.

5. Provide information about conduct and competence.

Performance

6. Address health issues related to your fitness to practise.

7. Obey laws and regulations.

8. Act within the limits of your knowledge, skills, competence and experience.

9. Keep your professional knowledge and skills up-to-date.

10. Seek informed consent from patients.

11. Communicate with patients, carers and other professionals.

12. Assist and advise colleagues and recently qualified registrants and students.

13. Teach, supervise and assess students and other professionals.

14. Supervise tasks that you give to others.

15. Enhance the patient experience.

16. Keep accurate records including images.

17. Address health and safety risks.

18. Be an advocate for patients.

Ethics

19. Demonstrate ethical awareness.

20. Respect the rights, needs, values, culture, dignity and vulnerability of patients.

21. Carry out your duties in a professional and ethical way.

22. Undertake research in an ethical manner.

23. Make sure that advertising is truthful, accurate and lawful.

Conduct

You must always maintain a high standard of conduct. Your duties are to:

1. Act in the best interests of patients

You are personally responsible for acting in the best interests of the patient.

You must:

a. treat patients as individuals;

b. respect diversity, different cultures and values and not condone, facilitate or take part in any form of discrimination;

c. respect and, where appropriate, speak out on behalf of patients and carers;

d. support the patient’s right to take part in all aspects of the service provided and to make informed choices about the service they receive;

e. do nothing and allow nothing to be done that might put the health or safety of a patient at risk;

f. when working in a team, be responsible for:

• your own professional conduct,

• any service or professional advice you give,

• your own failure to act, and

• appropriate delegation of tasks and any tasks delegated to you;

g. protect patients if you believe they are threatened by a colleague’s conduct, performance or health. Patient safety must always come before personal and professional loyalties;

h. talk to a suitable professional colleague if you become aware of any situation that puts a patient at risk.

You must not:

for reasons of personal or commercial benefit, direct public patients to private practice.

2. Ensure the health, welfare, protection and safety of patients, carers, colleagues and the public with regard to radiation safety

You must:

a. be responsible for the optimisation of any ionising or non-ionising radiation dose to patients consistent with the ALARA principle (As Low As Reasonably Achievable). This applies to all imaging modalities and radiation therapy;

b. make sure that carers, colleagues and the public are not unnecessarily exposed to radiation;

c. only accept properly authorised requests or referrals in line with current legislation and where these requests or referrals are for examination or treatment that will be of benefit to the patient;

d. take responsibility for justifying any medical exposure involving ionising radiation;

e. report any near misses or errors in procedures or treatments through your department’s reporting channels.

You should:

communicate medically significant findings to the appropriate clinical team who made the treatment request or imaging referral.

3. Respect the confidentiality and privacy of patients and their families

You must:

a. treat information about patients as confidential and use it only for the purpose for which it was given;

b. check that people who ask for information are entitled to it, in particular in relation to child protection;

c. be aware of your obligations to vulnerable adults and children under child protection and other laws;

d. always follow ‘best practice’, employer guidelines and data protection laws when handling confidential patient information. Stay up to date with best practice developments.

You must not:

give personal or confidential patient information to anyone, except if the law or your professional practice obligations requires you to do so.

Registrants must be conscious of their need to use social media and social networking in a responsible way, in particular, to avoid any breach of their obligations in this Code such as confidentiality under clause 3 and use of records and information under clause 16.

Disclosure of information to colleagues:

If you need to share patient information with a relevant colleague to give safe and effective care, you must make sure that they know that the information must be kept confidential.

4. Maintain high standards of personal...