ADA SA Branch By-Law Amendments
At its meeting held on 11 September 2023, the Branch Council unanimously voted to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Inclusion Committee.
The Committee follows a process which began in late 2022 with changes that have been made by the Australian Dental Council competency standards. A range of cultural competencies were added and will form part of ongoing undergraduate dental programs.
The Council formed a Working Group comprising of Council Members, Indigenous Members, and Member representatives from the University of Adelaide Dental School. It will have four main areas of work including:
- The promotion of professional and vocational pathways for indigenous students in the oral health industry
- Networking and collaboration across practical resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander oral health practitioners and students to access.
- Research and development of cultural competency education modules for the Membership and their Teams.
- The collation and promotion of resources which enable Members to provide a culturally safe environment for care provision to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Branch President, Dr Vaibhav Garg welcomed the new Committee: “it is vitally important that our Membership is fully aware of the new Cultural Competency Standards that have been introduced by the Australian Dental Council. It is also vitally important that we listen to the combined learnings of our indigenous practitioners,” said Dr Garg
“There is no point in teaching our undergraduate students one thing – but then failing to provide this information to the wider profession. As such we will be working hard as a Committee to bring all this information to the many generations who have graduated previously”.
At the same Council meeting, there was unanimous decision to revoke the Review Committee. This revocation was the result of a year long process of consultation, independent legal advice, and a complete review of the complaints management process within the Branch.
This process had not been comprehensively reviewed since the implementation of Ahpra as the regulator in 2010.
The Branch Council made the very clear statement that the ADA SA position is to support the Member and noted that Complaints are investigated and determined by the regulators, not ADA SA.
The Council wanted to be clear that the Branch was here to continue in its support of Members handling complaints.
Following feedback from many sources, the Council felt that there was no option but to revoke the Committee in its current format. The Council did however task the Chief Executive as part of the ongoing review of the complaints management process to look at an alternative Committee that could be implemented to support Members.
“We still have some way to go in our review of the processes, but it was clear from the inputs we have received, including our independent legal advice, that we could not operate as was outlined in our current by-laws. With an AGM on the horizon, we made the decision to revoke the Committee and continue the work on our review of our processes” said Dr Garg
“The Council unanimously passed a formal vote of thanks to all Members of the Review Committee for their passionate and professional work whilst serving the Membership. The Council also wished to continue to engage with the most recent Members of the Committee in this process and ensure that the talent we currently have in the Branch can be utilised in the best possible manner to support our Members.”
The Branch will keep Members updated as the Complaints Management Process Review continues.