7th July 2004

NEWS RELEASE

HPC says, “Yes – we are willing to regulate healthcare workers.”

 

The Health Professions Council (HPC) today released its response to the Department of Health’s (DH) consultation on the regulation of healthcare staff.

 

The DH consultation outlines the government’s belief that healthcare workers should be regulated, and its recommendation that the HPC would be the most appropriate body to regulate them. The HPC has agreed with the department of health that it should regulate healthcare workers, and goes on to detail how it would do so.

 

Healthcare workers include such groups as ambulance technicians, physiotherapy assistants, radiography assistants, and nursing assistants.

 

Marc Seale, Chief Executive and Registrar of the Health Professions Council, said,                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

“Regulation is needed in order to protect the public. We are pleased that the Department of Health has recommended that we regulate these workers, and have submitted our response to show how we could take on this project.

 

“Healthcare workers play a vital part in delivering care. This is a brand-new area for health regulation, and we believe that we can regulate healthcare workers in a way that offers robust protection to the public. In addition, statutory regulation will raise the profile and reputation of these important members of the health team.”

 

The HPC recommends that common standards should be introduced for healthcare workers. It also recommends that all healthcare workers should be regulated by a single organisation, across all four home countries in order to aid public access and recognition.

 

Marc Seale added, “At the Health Professions Council, we have demonstrated our experience of multi-professional regulation. There are clear benefits in economies of scale, and ease of recognition. If regulation is to work, the public need to know who they can turn to if things go wrong. A single regulator for healthcare workers, across all four home countries, is the only way to achieve this.”

 

ENDS

 

Rachel Tripp

Communications Officer

Health Professions Council www.hpc-uk.org

rachel.tripp@hpc-uk.org 020 7840 9760

 

Notes to editors

 

1. The Department of Health consultation can be found online here: http://www.dh.gov.uk/Consultations/ClosedConsultations/fs/en

‘Enhancing Public Protection: Proposals for the Statutory Regulation of Healthcare Support Staff in England and Wales’

 

2. The HPC’s response can be found on the HPC website: www.hpc-uk.org