Health Professions Council - Update March 20th 2011
from BASRaT Chair, Steve Aspinall
Following the latest news about statutory regulation, it is now clear there are a number of issues that need to be addressed / resolved prior to this progressing through the legislative processes in a timely fashion. The Health Professions Council (HPC) made a surprising decision in February, and to all intents and purposes they did miss a number of stages of the statutory regulation process, there are obviously organisations who have significant concerns about the validity of this decision. It is also clear from the coalition government's following white paper (see below for a link to the paper)that the goal posts have moved, but whether that affects our profession is also dependent upon the perceived potential for public harm by our professional area. There have obviously been discussions about the timing of the HPC announcement followed almost immediately by the release of the white paper, whether it was deliberate or coincidence remains to be seen. Regardless, the HPC currently do not know yet how this will proceed, they have a meeting on the 31st March to discuss and further examine all of these issues, I will pass on any news shortly after that. It is also worth noting that the coalition proposed voluntary registers for future healthcare regulation, detailed in the white paper, will be carried out by existing regulators (HPC for our field) and could be an effective way to regulate, it really would depend on the execution.
" Enabling Excellence: Autonomy and Accountability for Health and Social Care Staff " -
LINK TO DEPT. OF HEALTH WEBSITE PAPERS.
Health Professions Council - February 21st 2011
from BASRaT Chair, Steve Aspinall
Following on from the statutory regulation process recently grinding to a halt at the end of 2010, with the Health Professions Council (HPC) sending out communications to that effect, the HPC agreed last week to make a formal recommendation to the Secretary of State for Health and to Scottish Ministers for the regulation of the professional area of Sport Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy.
The History of Statutory Regulation for Sport Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy
Back in 2005 both BASRaT and the Society of Sports Therapy (SOST) submitted applications to the HPC for statutory regulation of their respective bodies. Although both bodies had met to discuss working together on this process, BASRaT's minimum standards of a high quality BSc (Hons) degree were incompatible with the variable level of qualifications to enter the SOST register at that time, hence two separate applications were advised by the HPC. Following the submission of the documents, the SOST application was heard first, and there was a subsequent decision by the HPC that only one application would be accepted for the professional area that covers both Sport Rehabilitation and Sports Therapy, so the application and subsequent documents continue from this document.
It is important to note at this stage that the statutory regulation application is not made for a professional body, but for a professional area and scope of practice. All professional bodies working in this field are involved in the statutory regulation process at every step of the way, in this case both BASRaT and the SOST have been attending regular meetings and working parties to move this process forwards, along with other interested parties including the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy. There were a number of issues to address which all parties worked on, and culminated in the SOST submitting a document to the HPC examining the overlap between our area and other Allied Health Professions in July 2010. This is when the process appeared to come to a stop, to be resurrected last week.
What next?
The process is now in the hands of the politicians, but this is obviously a major and timely development in the process. The regulated titles for this profession, for Sports Therapists, Sport Rehabilitators and others, is still open to debate, but we will keep you updated. BASRaT will obviously work to ensure that these future standards are not just focused on the minimum requirements of a BSc (Hons) degree, but commensurate with those of a safe and effective healthcare professional, which has always been the standard in our accredited programmes. The proposed register will be open to all professionals who can meet the minimum standards, although the majority of appropriate courses in this area come under the auspices of either the British Association of Sport Rehabilitators and Trainers or the Society of Sport Therapy.
HPC Decision Meeting Summary - PDF document.
Link to HPC Website - detailed of minutes and documents.
Statutory Regulation and the future of Sport Rehabilitation - from Steve Aspinall, BASRaT Chair
BASRaT is the only UK organisation that solely accredits BSc (Hons) degree level programmes in the field of Sports
and Exercise Medicine. As this field is developing within the UK, many institutions are being encouraged to run
courses in this area, often without appropriate expertise, facilities or resources. We strongly believe, that it
is both unethical and inappropriate for the training of this UK Sports Medicine professional to develop in this
manner, especially in numbers that are clearly inappropriate for the UK job market. As front line medical
professionals, education and training in this area needs to be of an equitable and high standard across the board.
This is why all BASRaT accredited institutions undergo a rigorous accreditation process, that covers everything from expertise,
facilities and resources to content, assessment, contact hours, staff/student ratios and clinical experience.
This is, and always has been, the position that BASRaT represents and we will continue to fight for this in the
development of our profession and appropriate statutory regulation.
There is a lot of misinformation about the process of statutory regulation, but the only real source for accurate
information is clearly the Health Professions Council themselves. You do not have to be a member of any organisation
to be included in the statutory regulation of a particular profession, although this can obviously help by ensuring
that you meet the high standards set by professional bodies like BASRaT.
A word on professional bodies:
" Normally, if an application is made to the Council, this application is made by a professional body.
This is helpful to the process of regulating a new group, since it is the professional body who have the
knowledge and expertise of the new group, and who can advise the Council on, for example, current educational
standards or requirements, the development of the profession, and its relationship to other professions.
Their application provides the opportunity for the professional body to give information to our Council about
how their group meets our standards, and for the Council to ask questions of the representatives.
However, we recognise that some members of an aspirant group may not be members of the professional organisation
which contacts us. Regulation with us is not dependent upon being a member of a professional body. If we regulate a
new profession, then we will regulate all members of that profession who meet the standards we set, regardless of
whether they choose to be members of any professional body.
We also recognise that in some cases there is more than one professional body for a group. In this case, we
strongly encourage professional bodies to work together on a joint application where possible, or to co-operate on
joint work around standards, or joint work to show how their various memberships are similar / different. If there
is more than one professional body, we would expect to work with all relevant organisations wherever possible, and would
welcome input from a variety of different groups to ensure that we can regulate the new group effectively."
Source: HPC website
www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/newprofessions/organisations
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