An update on the Health Professions Council

Rachel Tripp – the Hospital Physicists’ Association ConferenceNovember 2nd 2007

Today’s presentation

•About the HPC

•CPD standards

•The White Paper

What are the underlying principles of professionalregulation in the UK?

• Self regulation

• Professionally led

• Statutory regulation

• UK model

- Protection of Title vs Function

• Independent of government

HPC’s main objective

“To safeguard the health and well-being of persons using or needing the services of registrants”

Health Professions Order 2001

Article 3 (4)

How do we achieve this?

Register

Standards

Fitness to Practice

Communications

Regulator must be separate and independent

TradeAssociation

ProfessionalBody

RegulatorGovernment

Complementary roles

• Professional Body- Learned Society- Promotion and development of profession- Curriculum framework

• Trade Association- Terms & conditions

• Regulator- Sets and maintains standards

- Approves programmes- Keeps a register- Fitness to Practise- Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

182,000 registrants,13 Professions

Standards

•Standards of Proficiency

•Standards of conduct, performance and ethics

•Standards of Education and Training

•Standards for CPD

Fitness to Practise process

AllegationAllegation

MediationMediationInterimOrdersInterimOrders

HealthHealthConduct &CompetenceConduct &

Competence

InvestigationInvestigation

HPC’s role within a wider context

Healthcare Commission report on trends in complaintsJanuary 2007, 16,000 complaints received over 2 years

What do patients want?

- Better explanation of what went wrong 33%

- Service improvements 23%

- An apology 10%

- The event acknowledged 9%

- Action against staff 8%

- The same thing not to happen again 8%

Continuing Professional Development and HPC

• Standards (5) introduced in July 2005

• HPC requires all professionals to undertake CPD on a regular basis

• Audit will begin in July 2008

Standards of CPD

•Maintain up-to-date record – in whatever format is helpful

•Mixture of activities relevant to current or future practice

•Contributes to quality of practice

•Benefits service user

Standards – CPD...

Ref:HPC/MJS/HPC/Oct 2007

CPD audit process

• Profile

•Statement of current practice

•Description of how CPD meets standards

• Assessed by at least two CPD Assessors

• Met / not met / further information

• Further 3 months if required

• Can have registration lapsed

• Subject to appeals process

CPD – finding out more

• Your guide to the HPC’s CPD standards

• Continuing Professional Development and registration

• Sample profiles

‘Trust, assurance and safety: the regulation of health professionals in the 21st century’

Background to the White Paper’s publication:

•The Shipman report

•The Donaldson review of medical regulation

•The ‘Foster review’ of non-medical regulation

•The White Paper – February 2005

Key messages in the White Paper

Affirmation of the vast majority of health professionals

Need to make systemic changes alongside regulation reforms

- e.g. clinical governance, coroner’s systems, death certification systems, controlled drugs, complaints systems

White Paper reforms to regulation

Greater consistency between regulators

• Fitness to practise processes

• Standard of proof

• Common standards?

Improving the structure of the regulators

•Appointed Council members

•Smaller Councils

•Separation of strategic function from decision-making

White Paper reforms to regulation

Revalidation

•Positive demonstration of fitness to practise every 5 years

3 groups

•Employees of an approved body – part of appraisal and management systems

•Self-employed contractors – revalidation in collaboration between NHS commissioner and regulator

•Others – revalidation carried out by the regulator

White Paper reforms to regulation

Revalidation – key questions

• Risk?

• Standards?

• Assessment against those standards?

• Cost?

Set up a professional liaison group (PLG) to look at continuing fitness to practise more broadly.

Also looking at post-registration qualifications and marking the Register.

White Paper reforms to regulation

Regulation of aspirant groups

•No additional regulators – new groups normally be regulated by HPC

•Psychologists, healthcare scientists, psychotherapists and counsellors

•Also mentioned the regulation of acupuncture, traditional chinese medicine and herbal medicine

•Establishing a working group to look at regulation of other groups, including criteria and priorities

White Paper reforms to regulation

Any questions

?