Physiotherapy regulation

Health Professions Council (HPC)

On 9 July 2003 the HPC, the UK organisation responsible for registering and regulating 13 allied health professions including physiotherapy, began operating under new rules. The HPC replaces the previous regulatory body, the Council for the Professions Supplementary to Medicine (CPSM).

Standards of Proficiency consultation

The HPC is currently consulting on proposed revisions and additions to its Standards of Proficiency (first published in 2003). The Standards form a key document for how the HPC exercises its regulatory powers:

  • They express HPC threshold expectations of registrants
  • The HPC uses the document in considering whether to approve a qualifying programme as providing eligibility for registration
  • All individuals, as they renew their registration, are required to declare whether they continue fulfil the Standards within their scope of practice
  • If the HPC receives and pursues a complaint about a registrant’s practice, it uses the Standards (in addition to the HPC Code of Conduct, Performance and Ethics).

 

The revised standards can be found on the HPC website.   Please note that the deadline for comments to the CSP is 5th January 2007.

Warning: this is a very long document and you are only required to look at the physiotherapy section.

Principal changes

The main ways in which the Standards have been developed are as follows:

  • The introduction has been refined to provide clearer information about how the HPC expects registrants to engage with, and demonstrate fulfilment of, the Standards as they progress through their career
  • There has been a streamlining of how the generic and profession-specific Standards are presented (although there is no fundamental change to the co-existence of these two types of standards) to avoid unnecessary duplication and make the document easier to use
  • There has been a simplification and re-organisation of some of the standards and their sub-clauses to increase their clarity
  • The opportunity has been taken to achieve a greater commonality of approach across the different profession-specific standards where this seems appropriate
  • There is more emphasis on achieving a patient-centred, evidence-based approach to practice.

 

The specific changes made are highlighted in the consultation document.

The exercise to review the Standards (which was informed by a series of focus groups with registrants) also highlighted the importance of raising awareness of their content and importance. It is understood that the HPC is considering how this can appropriately be addressed through other strands of activity.

Questions for feedback

In putting the new version of the Standards out to consultation, the HPC has raised questions on which it would particularly value feedback. These are as follows:
  1. Do you think the introduction clearly explains the role and purpose of the standards?
  2. Do you agree with the changes we have made to the existing standards?
  3. Do you think any additional standards are necessary?
  4. Do you think any standards are redundant?
  5. Do you think there are any standards which might be reworded?
(Feedback is particularly invited on the shift to using the term 'service users' as an inclusive term to refer to patients, clients and users.)

Responding

Contributing to a CSP response

The CSP is preparing a response to the consultation. We would value your feedback to help shape what we say. This request for input is being sent via CSP Council and committees, interactiveCSP and this website. The CSP plans to address the questions the HPC has itself raised, as well as commenting on some broader issues.

If you would like to contribute to the CSP response, please send your comments to Sally Gosling via email goslings@csp.org.uk or phone 020 8770 1217 by 5th January 2007.

Submitting an individual response

As an individual registrant (or group of registrants), you can obviously submit a response to the HPC. The closing date for responses to the HPC is 12th January. Any comments, again using the questions above as a guide, should be sent to: Standards of Proficiency consultation
Health Professions Council
Park House
184 Kennington Park Road
London   SE11 4BU

or via email to consultation@hpc-uk.org or phone   020 7840 9815.