The vast majority
of those who work in health and social care are committed
individuals with a strong sense of professionalism who aspire to
deliver the highest standards. However, where there is poor
practice or behaviour that presents a risk to the public, it is
vital that swift action is taken, whether by employers, or by
national regulatory bodies.
The system of professional regulation ensures high standards of
practice and reassures the public that their health and social
care needs are provided by qualified, properly vetted professionals.
However, the regulatory system is becoming increasingly complex
and expensive and requires continual Government intervention to
keep it up to date. The Government must move to a proportionate
and effective system that imposes the least possible costs and
complexity, while maintaining safety and confidence for patients,
service users, carers and the wider public.
Health Secretary Andrew Lansley presented ‘Enabling Excellence’
to Parliament this morning. He said:
“Regulation of healthcare workers and social workers makes an
important contribution to safeguarding the public, including
vulnerable adults and children. But we need an approach to
professional regulation that is proportionate and effective.
“The changes we are progressing through the Health and Social
Care Bill will give greater independence to those who work in
healthcare across the UK and social care in England, to their
employers and to the professional regulatory bodies. This will be
balanced by more effective accountability in how they exercise
that freedom.”
‘Enabling Excellence’ sets out proposals:
to devolve power to the regulators, while enhancing
accountability and sustaining effective national safeguards where
necessary;to constrain the growth and costs of the regulatory
system at a time when health and social work professionals are
facing pay constraints;for a system of assured voluntary
registration as a more proportionate approach to ensuring high
standards in the workforce; andto simplify the regulatory
structure.
At the moment, most processes - such as registration,
investigation and complaints - that regulators need to have are
set out in ‘rules’. Every time the rules need to be updated, the
Government has to get involved. In most cases, that is an
unnecessary use of Government time. Devolving powers to the
regulators will give them greater freedom to define their own
processes without approval from the Privy Council or Department of Health.
Voluntary assured registration is intended to improve standards
and drive up the quality of care without imposing the costs of
mandatory regulation. The Council for Healthcare Regulatory
Excellence (CHRE) will set the standards for registers and
accredit organisations meeting its standards. That way, the public
and employers would be able to easily identify whether a worker
belongs to a register that sets robust standards for those
registered. We intend to incentivise employers to use workers on
voluntary registers. For example, this could be a factor taken
into account in the Care Quality Commission's proposals
for an excellence scheme which it will be consulting on.
The abolition of the General Social Care Council forms part of
our wider programme of social care reform which will deliver a
more independent model of regulation and strengthen the social
work profession. The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence
will also become more independent and self-funding. They will
review the efficiency of all regulators, with a view to reducing
the overall costs of regulation.
The Health Secretary also announced to Parliament today that
herbal medicine practitioners will be regulated from April 2012.
The four UK health departments have agreed that the Health
Professions Council (HPC) should hold a statutory register of
practitioners who supply unlicensed herbal medicines to people to
enable the supply of herbal medicines to continue after 30 April
2011. This will ensure that practitioners have met specified
registration standards. Practitioner regulation will be
underpinned by medicines legislation which will provide further
safeguards to protect public health.
Notes to Editors
For media enquiries contact the Department of Health news desk
on 020 7210 5221.‘Enabling Excellence’ is in the House of Commons
Library and is available to download here:
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Publications/PublicationsPolicyAndGuidance/DH_124359There
are nearly 1.4 million regulated health and social care
professionals in the United Kingdom.In future, local authority
commissioners could give preference to providers using workers on
voluntary registers. This could be taken into account in the
“excellence rating” that the CQC will shortly be consulting on.Our
analysis of the 2009 consultation by the four UK Health
Departments which sought views on the possible regulation of
practitioners of acupuncture, herbal medicine and traditional
Chinese medicine will be published today and available at
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Consultations/Responsestoconsultations/DH_124337
Contacts:
Department of Health
Phone: 020 7210 5221
NDS.DH@coi.gsi.gov.uk