Health Professions Council Chelmsford Listening Event Tuesday 24 th January 2006, 6-8pm

Transcription

1 Health Professions Council Chelmsford Listening Event Tuesday 24 th January 2006, 6-8pm Q&A Transcript 1. Podiatrist I speak not only as a registrant but also as a member of the Society of Podiatrists and Chiropodists. I m concerned about the website; specifically the section with details of registrants who have had a complaint made against them whether they are guilty or not! We are required to publish information according to the legislation. We have to protect the public they need the opportunity to see the details. If a registrant so wishes, they can have other information published. 56% of allegations made against registrants go to the next step up. 2. Radiographer 56% go through: why? I don t know. It s good and bad news. In a positive sense it indicates that appropriate and necessary action is being taken. But it could also indicate that there are serious problems. It is now easier for people to make complaints and people s awareness of HPC is increasing. Fitness to Practise processes are now more efficient. HPC Carol Lloyd With CPSM it was like they could either do nothing or just strike someone off. Now there is a whole range of sanctions available. I m on the Conduct and Competence Committee and we re beginning to monitor and record figures. We ll be able to make better judgments in time. We need to continue collecting information. 3. Podiatrist You mentioned registrants from overseas in your presentation. With the enlargement of the European Union (EU), how do you determine consistency of standards of competence and proficiency? International applicants are divided into two groups: EU nationals or Non-EU nationals. International applicants whether EU or Non-EU often don t have a knowledge of the experience of working here therefore their applications are sent to two assessors; one academic and one practitioner. A professional judgment is then made about their application. There are extra English language requirements for Non-EU applicants, but we can t test the English of EU nationals. If an EU applicant doesn t quite meet the standards, we can set a test or period of adaptation so they are given the opportunity do so. They can then approach hospitals or trusts to try and get experience and yes there can be difficulties here.

2 4. Radiographer I was surprised that on the Future Issues section of your presentation you have regulation of assistant practitioners? There has been a consultation document out from the Department of Health. The consultation has finished and the results have been passed on to ministers and there it currently sits. There are two groups: one headed by the Chief Medial Officer, who deals with regulation of doctors; the other is headed by Andrew Foster, a non-medical professional. Part of the remit of the Foster Review is to look at he potential regulation of assistants. Feedback from ministers on the outcome of these two groups is expected in March but like most things political it could be August. We don t know any more than you. 5. Radiographer Sonographers are not regulated: why? We re expecting the Society (of Radiographers) to submit an application for sonographers to be regulated as a separate group. We have to look at how the standards would be different. How would they be so? If you can be regulated you should be regulated. We recognise your views are common. To what extent is technology dividing groups? It is a problem. We do think the Society will put in an application. If this happens, HPC will make a decision then it goes to the Department of Health. One issue is that of establishing an agreed training/education programme and then who would fund it. My personal view is that they should be regulated as a separate group. 5a. Radiographer I heard that the Society had already submitted an application and been turned down by the HPC. No submissions have been made. 6. Chiropodist We talked about regulation of assistants can we go a stage further. When it comes to foot healthcare practitioners or foot technicians who is regulating them?! HPC Pamela Sabine Not HPC. HPC regulates only those who have come onto the Register through grandparenting or through an approved course. Those trained to any other standards do not get regulated they may join a professional body but HPC is not regulating them. 6a. Chiropodist Therefore someone can practise for 20 years without regulation?! People could be a danger. HPC should be saying they should be monitored. This opens up the issue of professionals being regulated by the statutory regulator. Professional regulation is expensive. On this level I don t think statutory regulation is appropriate. Perhaps a licensing process or regulation by employers is more appropriate. Also, to date HPC has waited for aspirant groups to approach it; but we are entitled to go to them. Therefore perhaps in

3 the next six months a question for the Council should be: should foot healthcare practitioners be regulated? Another angle concerns communicating with the public. If you want to see a registered health professional, make sure they re with HPC. We are raising awareness so that people will do this. 6b. Chiropodist But these people are doing the same job as me but could be putting people at risk. HPC Pamela Sabine Firstly, grandparenting had to finish. And what we don t have is protection of function. We have protection of title. It also depends on numbers and the scale of the problem. Half a dozen people saying foot healthcare practitioners should be regulated, we could deal with, but 2-3,000 people saying so would mean the Council would have to tackle this issue. 7. Chiropodist (non-executive on primary care trust) To add to previous items; many primary care trusts can not fund chiropody services anymore. How are HPC funded? By registrants fees. When we were first set up we received a grant from the Department of Health in our first year as a shadow organisation. Since then, in essence all funds come from registrant fees. There is a small investment portfolio, as is the case for other regulators. 8. Physiotherapist Given the increase in fitness to practise allegations, how are you costing or funding these? There are a number of things to consider. Firstly, 17.5% of our budget goes on Fitness to Practise (FTP); for the GDC (General Dental Council) this figure is around 40% and for the GMC (General Medical Council) it s around 55%. So relatively speaking it is a small proportion. A lot of technology and new processes have been invested in Fitness to Practise. The Department was once one person now there are twelve people and they each specialise. We also get a good service from the legal profession. With 40,000 additional registrants more funds are directed to FTP. And fees have not gone up in four years. 9. Physiotherapist By the time you audit CPD, who will be auditing? What if it is not satisfactory? HPC We will use partners, the same way as we use them as assessors for applications and for education approvals. If they decide something isn t clear, they will go back to the registrant for clarification or additional information. It will be an encouraging process.

4 HPC Carol Lloyd Criteria will be open to everyone. It is being established with the help of professional bodies and external advice. We want to work with you not against you. 9a. Physiotherapist What about the cost implications? They won t hit until We ll have up to 7,000 applications in and we will look at how to deal with them. We won t just send profiles out to partners, we will bring partners in to HPC as well. Processes will be in place to facilitate the audit. You will for example be given an additional three months to provide us with the information we need. Only a very, very small percentage of people will find themselves not re-registered. If you don t do CPD you will not be up to standard and therefore will not qualify for registration. 10. Operating Department Practitioner Firstly thank you HPC for visiting. The trusts are providing extended practice for assistants, therefore in our department we could have non-registered assistants scrubbing in to perform an operation. Therefore HPC should protect function. What about tanning salon assistants? What about life guards anyone who has contact with your body? You should look at function. The whole issue of regulating assistants is not in our hands; it is in the hands of government ministers. There are thousands of assistants across the UK working at all sorts of levels. Decisions need to address the importance of regulation at different levels. If we go down the route of protecting function as opposed to titles, this would mean a huge change across all regulators. 11. Paramedic With regard to policing the title of paramedic, how do you find out if someone is advertising as one when they actually aren t? And what about vehicles? In relation to papers; there are regular articles in newspapers that use the term but if we identify any instances where it has been applied incorrectly we will chase the matter. Most allegations come from employers; some come from fellow registrants and others from members of the public. I can also step in and make an allegation. We have been working closely with Yellow Pages and Thompson s directory to contact everybody who has been advertising under a protected title. We bought their distribution lists and mailed letters out to everybody stating that anybody advertising under a protected title who wasn t on the Register had to stop doing so immediately. The letter also explained that if you were already on the Register then you could disregard the warning. To address your question about ambulances now do they have paramedics inside? Some vehicles no longer put paramedic on the outside. If anybody is aware of intent to deceive we need as much information as possible and would encourage you to contact our Fitness to Practise department.

5 12. Question We do in-house CPD, but do we also need to go external? Finding funds for this is extremely difficult. The simple answer is no. We are conscious of the difficulties. Where necessary, time and funding should be provided for courses; but we re very conscious of the fact that so far funding for CPD form the Department of Health has gone to medics and nurses. Now that CPD will officially be required for registration, that is, it will be linked to the requirements of statutory regulation, funding may be obtained. We are meeting with professional bodies. People need to get together and make noises about getting funding from the Department of Health for AHP (allied health professional) CPD. We will be telling HR people that it is necessary for their employees to be re-registered. 13. Physiotherapist I ve just had my annual visit from the Yellow Pages and they didn t ask for my registration number. HPC We ve had various meetings with Yellow Pages and Thompsons and they ve asked us to bear with them. These sorts of changes for big commercial companies can cost money. We have been speaking to legal and management teams; but the information also needs to be filtered to sales teams. There is the possibility of scripts being provided. We will relay your feedback to these organisations. 14. Occupational Therapist What s happening with dual registration? We need more details on the Social Care Council and how things are moving forward. HPC Marc Seale (Chief executive and Registrar) This is another messy area. Lots of OTs (occupational therapists) are working as OTs but they re not registered i.e. a disbility policy officer for example needs to be an OT to do their job. There is no clarity on this as OTs have got lots of titles. SUMMARY Pamela Sabine I would like to comment on the points made earlier this afternoon about CPD. When you get to take away the guidelines, our expectations will become very clear. They will be provided in April. Also, we need to bear in mind that CPD is something we re all doing. You will simply be asked to keep a record of it. The guidelines do need to be clear. This evening, as opposed to this afternoon, confusion has been voiced with regard to the difference between titles. We will continue to consider and assess this. Norma Brook (President) I ve attended quite a number of these events and it continues to surprise me how the questions and issues raised are always slightly different. This is a good thing as we always have material to take back. Your concerns are very

6 important to us. We need to bear in mind what you re saying. These events are extremely valuable and what you say will be considered. Thank you very much for attending; we do really appreciate it.