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Review of research into health and care professional regulation

28 Jul 2020 | Alison Bullock, Julie Browne, Chiara Poletti, Dorottya Cserző & Elaine Russ
  • Research Papers

We commissioned Cardiff University to undertake a review of research into health and care professional regulation since 2011

Background

We thought the time was right to review research into professional health and care regulation. The last 10 years have seen unprecedented changes in the regulation of health and social care professions in the UK, with changes in culture, delivery, public attitudes, and societal and demographic factors all affecting regulators and regulated professions.  We commissioned Cardiff University's Unit for Research and Evaluation in Medical and Dental Education to research the literature available.

In January of this year we commissioned an independent team at Cardiff University to undertake a review of the research into health and care professional regulation since 2011.

What was the purpose of the research?

The three key objectives for this research were:

  1. To source research in the area of health and care professional regulation in English since 2011;
  2. To evaluate the research and draw out what it has taught us; and
  3. To identify any gaps in the research and areas that would benefit from deeper exploration to inform the focus of further research and continue to build the evidence base in relation to health and care professional regulation.

How was it conducted?

In addition to the core of their work – a rapid evidence assessment of the published literature – the researchers carried out interviews with our key research and policy contacts at the regulators, as well as reviewing their websites.

Key findings

In terms of what the literature has taught us, the key themes are grouped into six areas, including Education and Training and Harm Prevention and Patient Safety. A strong overall finding to emerge from the work is that – whereas health and care professional regulation studies is rapidly emerging as a new field – it is still less developed compared with other areas, such as financial, legal or aviation regulation studies

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