Regulations > Registration of Intern Psychologists

Notice No. R. 394

21 May 2012

Department of Health

The Minister of Health has, under sections 61(1) and 61(2) of the Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974), and after consultation with the Health Professions Council of South Africa, made the regulations in the Schedule.

Definitions

1.	In these Regulations "the Act'' means the Health Professions Act, 1974 (No. 56 of 1974), and any word or expression to which a meaning has been assigned in the Act shall have that meaning and, unless the context otherwise indicates—

"approved facility"

means a hospital, clinic or a health care centre which provides training that has been approved by the board for the purpose of internship training;

"board"

means the Professional Board for Psychology established in terms of section 15 of the Act;

"penalty"

means the fee payable for late registration prescribed under Rules promulgated in terms of section 61A of the Act.

Registration as intern in psychology

Any person who holds a qualification prescribed under the Regulations relating to the qualifications which entitle Psychologists to registration and made in terms of section 24 of the Act or any person who holds a qualification accepted by the board under section 25 of the Act shall, before he or she is entitled to registration as a psychologist in any category of such registration, undertake training to the satisfaction of the board as an intern psychologist for a period and in the manner prescribed in regulation 5, unless the board exempts him or her partially or in full from this requirement on submission of documentary evidence, to the satisfaction of the board, of internship or equivalent training undergone or experience obtained.

Requirements for registration

3.	A person contemplated in regulation 2 must apply to the board for registration as an intern, and—

(a)	in the case of an intern psychologist who commences training at an approved facility for training of intern psychologists, within one month following the commencement of that training; or

(b)	in the case of an intern psychologist who on the date of publication of these regulations had already commenced training at an approved facility for training of intern psychologists, within one month after the date of publication of these regulations into law.

Information to be submitted by an applicant to the board

4.	A person referred to in regulation 2 must—

(a)	submit an application for registration as an intern in psychology to the board on an application form supplied by the board, and duly completed in person;

(b)	submit proof that he or she holds a qualification referred to in regulation 2 or that he or she holds a qualification accepted by the board in terms of section 25 of the Act and has passed an examination or other assessment determined by the board;

(c)	submit the name of the approved facility at which he or she was admitted to undergo training as an intern and must notify the board in writing in advance if he or she intends to change from that facility to another approved facility; and

(d)	pay the prescribed registration fee.

Conditions of internship training

5.1	The internship training to be undertaken by an intern psychologist shall meet the following conditions-

(a)

internship training must be for a period of twelve (12) months and where it is broken or interrupted it shall consist of periods which, when added together, are not less than twelve months in total, including vacation leave not exceeding one month per annum, and must comply with the criteria laid down by the board from time to time;

(b)	no such break, or interruption must exceed a period of one year if the period of training prior to such break or interruption is to be recognised as part of completed internship training;

(c)	the period of twelve months of internship training contemplated in paragraph (a) must be completed within a period of two years from the date of registration as intern psychologist under the Act;

(d)	if an intern does not complete his or her internship training within a period of two years, his or her registration in terms of the Act shall be cancelled, unless-

(i)	he or she furnishes the board with satisfactory reasons as to why his or her registration should not be cancelled ; and

(ii)	he or she complies with conditions which the board may determine for the completion of the internship training, and for the board to recognise the applicant's internship training, the conditions may include the passing of the board national examination in psychology; and

(e)	the training must be undertaken by an intern at a facility approved by the board.

5.2

(a)	if a facility contemplated in subregulation (1)(e) is not available, the board may, at its discretion, accept alternative training, which in the board's opinion is equivalent to a training at a facility approved by the board;

(b)	when approving a facility or alternative training, the board may stipulate that only a portion of an intern's training must be undertaken at facility and that remainder must be undertaken at another approved facility;

(c)

if internship training at an approved facility is regarded by the board for any reason to be inadequate or unsatisfactory, the board may withdraw the approval of that facility, in which case the board must inform any interns at that facility accordingly in writing and request those interns to undertake internship training at another approved facility for their remaining period of internship training.

Duty certificate as proof of training

6.1	Upon completion of internship training, an intern must submit a duty certificate to the satisfaction of the board that he or she has satisfactorily undertaken internship training as required by the board and it must be a precondition for registration as a psychologist;

6.2	The duty certificate contemplated in subregulation (1) must be issued by Authorised official of an approved training facility where an intern successfully undertook internship training.

Penalty

Where an application for the registration of a name on the register of intern psychologists or for its restoration thereto together with documents and fees referred in regulation 4, as the case may be, is submitted after the date specified in regulation 3, such application must be subject to the prescribed penalty in respect of each month or part of a month by which the application is submitted after the date so prescribed.

Commencement and repeal

8.	These regulations shall commence on the date of the publication thereof and the Regulations published under Government Notice R1331 in Government Gazette 26982 of 19 November 2004 are hereby repealed.

Dr A Motsoaledi, MP

Minister of Health

Date: 17/4/2012

Health Professions Act, 1974 (Act No. 56 of 1974)

Regulations

Regulations Relating to the Registration of Intern Psychologists

Notice No. R. 394 of 2012

"approved facility"

"board"

"penalty"