1 February 2005
NEWS RELEASE
HPC welcomes three new Council members

The Health Professions Council (HPC) is pleased to announce the appointment of three new members of Council. Alan Mount, Stephen Wordsworth and Mary Clarke Glass were appointed by the Privy Council and will be attending their first Council meeting today. The Council meeting is being held to discuss the structure of the HPC Register. Stephen is the Operating Department Practitioner member of Council, Alan is the alternate and Mary has been appointed as the new lay member. Operating department practitioners are the 13th profession to be registered by the HPC, they joined the Register in October 2004.

Mary Clark-Glass was formerly a lecturer in law and broadcaster in Belfast; she has been involved in equality/human rights issues since the 1970's. Head of the Equal Opportunities Commission for Northern Ireland 1984-92, a Human Rights Commissioner 1984-1990, former member of the probation board for Northern Ireland, she also served as a Commissioner on the Commission for Racial Equality for N. Ireland. Mary is currently a GMC associate, a member of the GDC's Fitness to Practice Committee and a non-executive director of the Royal Group of Hospitals, Belfast.

Alan Mount is Education Manager/Senior Lecturer in ODP Studies, based within the Faculty of Health at Canterbury Christ Church University College. Alan has a long history within the peri-operative field, both as a practitioner and as an educator. He was appointed in February 2002 to the Association of Operating Department (AODP) Board. He has been involved with the development of the new standards of proficiency, scope of practice and subject benchmarks for ODP in accordance with the transfer to the HPC. More recently he was awarded the Association of Operating Department Fellowship for outstanding service to the ODP profession.

Stephen Wordsworth is a senior lecturer in the Faculty of Health and Community Studies at the University of Central England. He has been a qualified operating department practitioner for 15 years and has been heavily involved in a range of curriculum development initiatives for much of that time. Whilst as a professional body council member for the Association of Operating Department Practitioners (AODP) he has acted as the Deputy Director of Education and 'chair of the curriculum review development group. Stephen has also acted as a specialist ODP advisor for a number of HE institutions and as recently completed QAA training for Major Review of Healthcare Programmes.

The Council of the HPC is responsible for developing strategies and policies and consists of 26 members (made up of one representative from each of the professions regulated and 13 lay members) 13 alternates, plus a president.

Professor Norma Brook, The President of the Council, said "I am delighted to welcome a new profession to the HPC Register and three new members to Council. I look forward to working along side Mary, Alan and Stephen in the near future. Council members play a vital role in the success of HPC and the new members have joined us at an exciting and challenging time."