Ethics & Professionalism CPD Courses for Physiotherapists in New Zealand

The Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct is shared by the Physiotherapy Board and Physiotherapy New Zealand. The Board consulted on a revised version during 2025, and its summary page lists the revised Code as effective from 1 April 2026. The revision uses kiritaki for the person receiving care and strengthens expectations on respectful behaviour between colleagues, including bullying and harassment.

The principle wording above is shortened; read the full Code and its commentary on the Physiotherapy Board website. The Code sits within the Board's Standards Framework, and the Informed consent standard is one of the standards most often relevant when a kiritaki complains about how treatment was explained.

The Physiotherapy Board's programme has yearly parts and a rolling hours total:

• A professional development plan on the Board's Recertification Record template.
• Peer review, recorded on the template.
• Three reflections a year: one exploring Māori culture in relation to your practice, and two more from the cultural, ethical and professional groups.
• 100 CPD hours over three practising years (specialists put half into their specialty area).

Each course gives you logged hours toward the 100, a certificate for your evidence file and a reflective account that can become an ethical or professional reflection. If your plan includes a goal on the revised Code, the two core courses are a direct match. Around 5% of practitioners are audited each year, and an organised record makes that straightforward.

Our allied health recertification guide explains the audit in more detail.

Many physiotherapy complaints are about explanation rather than technique: a kiritaki did not understand why an area was examined, what a treatment involved, what it would cost or how many sessions to expect. Rights 5 to 7 of the HDC Code of Rights and the Board's Informed consent standard set the bar.

Physiotherapists touch kiritaki every day, which is why clear consent, draping, offering a support person or chaperone, and explaining before touching matter so much, particularly in pelvic health, hip, chest and spinal assessment. Boundaries with kiritaki who become friends, social media contact and gifts are covered too.

Physiotherapy notes are read by ACC, insurers, employers and sometimes lawyers. Accurate, timely records that match what was claimed are both a safety issue and a probity issue.

Courses for physiotherapists working with deteriorating patients in hospital, delegating to assistants, or adding new techniques to their practice.

If a kiritaki complains to your clinic, the HDC or the Board, see our remediation courses for physiotherapists page for the process and the courses matched to each concern.

A kiritaki with an ACC-funded shoulder injury has used most of the approved sessions. They ask you to record a few extra visits as treatment for the same injury, although the sessions would really be for their sore back. They are a long-standing kiritaki and a friend of your clinic owner.

The ethics course asks you to weigh loyalty, kindness, fairness to the funding system and honesty, and to plan how to say no while still helping: discussing other funding, a new claim if appropriate, or private fees.

The professional standards course looks at the conduct: what the Code says about integrity, what your notes must show, why a false entry is a serious matter whoever asks for it, what to do if your employer pressures you, and how to record the conversation.

The core courses include cases from each setting, so you can focus your reflection on where you actually work.

• Physiotherapists in private practice, sports, hospital, community, aged care and rehabilitation settings.
• New graduates and internationally qualified physiotherapists learning how the Code, the HPCA Act, HDC and ACC fit together.
• Clinic owners and team leaders who want a common standard for their staff.
• Physiotherapists returning to practice after a break.
• Practitioners responding to a concern who want evidence of learning on ethics or conduct.

Peer review is already part of the Board's programme, so use it. After finishing a core course, take one case to your peer reviewer and talk through how you would each handle it in your own setting. Useful questions include:

• Do my consent conversations meet the Informed consent standard, and do my notes show it?
• When did I last end a course of treatment because it was no longer helping?
• How do I respond when a funder, employer or coach asks for information about a kiritaki?
• What does culturally safe practice look like with the kiritaki and whānau I see most?

Record the discussion on your Recertification Record template. Together with the course certificate and reflection, it shows the Board learning that is active rather than passive.

Start with both core courses, then add one supporting course linked to the goal in your professional development plan.