Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

undertake this task, for example, if they wanted to introduce a system of lay and
registrant screeners similar to that established by the Health Professions Council.
8.30 Our provisional view is that the regulators should have powers to specify referral
criteria for an investigation. This would help to ensure that, where appropriate
such decisions are made against clear criteria, can be audited, and that cases
are not closed inappropriately. However, it would be left to each regulator to
decide the precise criteria it wanted to adopt. It is important to allow each
regulator to determine its own approach to an investigation in the light of its
resources and circumstances. Some regulators may wish to provide that all
allegations must be referred to an Investigation Committee or case examiners,
whilst others may want to specify exceptions. This may include, for example,
requiring that convictions resulting in a custodial sentence must be referred
directly to a Fitness to Practise Panel. Alternatively, regulators could introduce
more elaborate threshold criteria similar to that developed by the General
Pharmaceutical Council.
8.31 We appreciate concerns that the above proposal could produce an inconsistent
approach to referral criteria across the regulators. Our provisional view is that
such consistency is less important on this issue than giving each regulator
sufficient flexibility to decide how to manage allegations in the light of their
individual circumstances. There may also be concerns that the proposal gives too
much power to the regulators to issue any criteria it sees fit, including overly
complex criteria or criteria that allows registrants to avoid further investigation
inappropriately. The checks and balances on issuing such rules are discussed in
detail in Part 2. However, we welcome further views.
Provisional Proposal 8-5: All the regulators should have the power to
establish a formal process for the initial consideration of allegations (such as
screeners).
Provisional Proposal 8-6: The regulators should have the power to prohibit
certain people from undertaking the initial consideration of allegations and
specify that only certain people can undertake this task.
Provisional Proposal 8-7: The regulators should have powers to establish
referral criteria for an investigation and specify cases which must be referred
directly to a Fitness to Practise Panel.
Question 8-8: Should the statute impose more consistency in relation to the
criteria used by regulators to refer cases for an investigation or the cases that
must be referred directly to a Fitness to Practise Panel?
INVESTIGATION
8.32 Once the regulator has determined that an allegation has been made, it is
required to carry out an investigation. Until recently, the only exception was the
Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland which was given no specific
investigatory powers. Instead, complaints about a registrant’s fitness to practise
were referred typically to the Department of Health, Social Services and Public
Safety. However, the Northern Ireland Assembly has recently legislated to reform
many aspects of the Society’s legal framework, including the introduction of a
new Scrutiny Committee to investigate allegations of impaired fitness to
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