Advice on student registration for Secretary of State

Background

The aim of this document is to provide the advice requested by the Secretary of State for Health on what the Professional Standards Authority (then the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence), having consulted the regulatory bodies considers:

• Appropriate systems or processes to be put in place to assure the public that students are fit to practice during education and training as health professionals
• Whether students and trainees should have relationships with their future regulators prior to qualification and what those relationships might mean
• How might this be achieved.  

Summary

This report considers the practicality of student registration and how to deliver a proportionate and risk-based approach to student behaviour. It emphasises the importance of professionalism as a developing strand of the curriculum and risk management in different practice settings.

We recommend that education providers have formal mechanisms for investigating student fitness to practise issues, based on a code of conduct agreed with the regulatory bodies. However, there is insufficient evidence to support calls for regulators to register students in the interest of patients and the public.