Department of Health and Social Care
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Reform of health professions' regulators
The new General Chiropractic Council, the third new council set up this year in a series of reforms to professional regulators, takes effect today.
Reforms are being introduced to healthcare regulators help to ensure that councils act fairly and robustly, and are seen to be independent. The White Paper "Trust, Assurance and Safety", published in February 2007, put forward proposals that the councils of regulatory bodies who are responsible for setting and promoting standards for health professionals within the UK, should revise their structure and appointment procedures.
Since the start of 2009 new council membership and structures for three healthcare regulatory bodies have been introduced - the Nursing & Midwifery Council, the General Medical Council, both of which came into being on 1 January 09, and now, the General Chiropractic Council.
Health Minister, Ben Bradshaw said:
"The reforms taking
place this year will help increase public and professional trust
in how healthcare professionals are regulated.
"These changes will continue to raise professional standards in healthcare and encourage more transparency and high quality services for patients. It is important that councils act independently of the professions themselves, the Government, employers and commissioners."
Two more reformed professional regulatory bodies - the General Optical Council and the General Osteopathic Council are expected to commence on the 1 April 2009.
The Department of Health also recently launched a public consultation to make similar changes to the General Dental Council and Health Professions Council in the Summer, and also on proposals for a new pharmacy professional regulator.
Notes to Editors
1. The White Paper "Trust, Assurance and Safety - The
regulation of health professionals in the 21st century" was
published in February 2007 and set out proposals for reforming the
constitutional arrangements for the healthcare regulatory bodies.
The main proposals were that:
i. Councils should have, as a
minimum, parity of membership between lay and professional members
to ensure that purely professional concerns are thought to
dominate their work;
ii. Council members should be
independently appointed to dispel the perception that councils are
overly sympathetic to the professionals they regulate;
and
iii. Councils should become smaller and more board-like to
enable them to focus more effectively on strategy and oversight.
2. For further details on each of the three councils, please
see:
Nursing & Midwifery Council (NMC):
http://www.nmc-uk.org
General Medical Council (GMC):
http://www.gmc-uk.org
General Chiropractic Council (GCC):
http://www.gcc-uk.org
3. Consultation on the proposed constitution of the General Dental Council, the Health Professions Council, and proposals for a new pharmacy professional regulator are currently underway and all will be concluded by April 09. More information is available from http://www.dh.gov.uk/publications
4. For further details contact the Department of Health press office on: 020 7210 5221.
