Combining a few of the smaller responsible authorities, or those with similar roles (e.g. "prescribers")

It would be ideal to cluster a few together (not all as with the Ahpra model in Australia!), to become more cost effective and to work more efficiently. One idea would be for instance, that all allied health professionals that may prescribe and have 'restricted tasks' within their scopes of practices be clustered together. We all work together on various matters already. 

The cost of regulation (i.e., quality and experienced staff (including Māori advisors), infrastructure and resourcing) needed has increased significantly the past few years, and so did the demand. We want to be involved in various initiatives within the current health system reform. It is our role and we will be affected by it if we are not. However, with no funding from government, and the increased demands from the various health and Crown entities, it makes the day-to-day running of smaller responsible authorities unatainable. Our primary role is to protect the public health and safety. With that in mind, it is important to remember that some of the smaller responsible authorities only have 1.2 to 4 FTE staff. Also, a lot of the Registrars/General Managers of smaller responsible authorities are very much involved with lower-level administrative tasks, such as assisting with registration processes, and the like. With no additional funding to employ more (or better staff), they are often burntout and the staff turnover in the smaller responsible authorities are high, because of this demand. This is a risk to the sector and the public. There is also a lot of duplication happening across all responsible authorities (and other agencies). This should be better managed. Another (and unpopular) way to get more funding is to increase fees for annual practising certificates - this is not ideal, but at the end of the day the responsible authorities need to stay solvent. I do believe there is a better way of structuring responsible authorities and make the whole profession-specific regulation more efficient. Looking forward to seeing the end of this reform.