- Guardianship and Administration Amendment (Medical Research) Bill 2023 passes State Parliament
- The range of registered health practitioners who can enrol represented and incapacitated people in vital medical research broadened
- Laws provide for continued access to new and emerging therapies for all Western Australians
Medical researchers and health practitioners will continue to be at the cutting edge of technology and innovation in medical research following the passage of new laws through State Parliament.
The Guardianship and Administration Amendment (Medical Research) Bill 2023 supports the advancement of WA’s health system and ensures that all Western Australians – including the most vulnerable members of our community – have access to emerging research therapies.
Provisions allowing represented and incapacitated persons to be enrolled in medical research were first introduced in 2020, in response to the coronavirus pandemic. They provide for medical research and new treatments to be carried out on a person with consent from their decision-maker, or without consent in urgent circumstances.
In its first review of the 2020 laws, the Department of Justice consulted a wide range of stakeholders, including researchers, disability and mental health advocates and the health sector, and found that the medical research provisions have been working well.
It recommended broadening the scope of health practitioners able to undertake medical research under the provisions and removing a sunset clause, which would have ended access to medical research treatments without consent in urgent circumstances from April 2024.
The new laws give effect to those recommendations, deleting the sunset clause and expanding the range of registered health practitioners who can enrol represented and incapacitated adults in vital medical research.
