We welcome the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care’s re-stated commitment to proceed with the long awaited consultation on reforms to professional regulation. The Authority has long called for reform and laid out detailed proposals to make regulation work better for all those it affects in our 2017 report Right-touch reform.
Covid-19 has intensified the need for reform and highlighted what might be possible in the future in allowing regulators greater agility and flexibility and we should build on this momentum for change.
In particular, we welcome the ambition to improve collaboration between regulators and simplify the system. As the recent Cumberlege and Paterson reports demonstrate, there is an urgent need to improve coherence of the regulatory system to prevent patient safety issues from falling between organisational boundaries.
However, greater flexibility must be coupled with increased accountability. We will be engaging closely with Government on the proposals to ensure that the Authority has sufficient powers to be able to provide effective oversight for regulators who will have significantly greater flexibility in fitness to practise and rulemaking and that there is no overall reduction in public protection.
Find out more about our thoughts on regulatory reform here. You can also read our statement on the government's publication of its response to its consultation on reform of professional regulation.
ENDS
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact:
Email: media@professionalstandards.org.uk
Notes to the Editor
- The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care oversees 10 statutory bodies that regulate health and social care professionals in the UK.
- We assess their performance and report to Parliament. We also conduct audits and investigations and can appeal fitness to practise cases to the courts if we consider that sanctions are insufficient to protect the public and it is in the public interest.
- We also set standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for health and social care occupations and accredit those that meet them.
- We share good practice and knowledge, conduct research and introduce new ideas to our sector. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally and provide advice on issues relating to professional standards in health and social care.
- We do this to promote the health, safety and wellbeing of users of health and social care services and the public. We are an independent body, accountable to the UK Parliament.
- Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work.
- More information about our work and the approach we take is available at www.professionalstandards.org.uk