Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals Consultation

Voluntary registers
5.33 Our provisional view is that voluntary registers do not necessarily need to be a
matter which is left to Government. This is on the basis that professionals will not
be required to join, and the registers will be paid for on a self-funding basis. Thus
voluntary registers do not extend the definition of a profession nor would they
have an economic impact on the Government.
5.34 It would be possible for our new system to retain the reforms which are proposed
in the Health and Social Care Bill 2011. In effect, all the regulators would have
express powers to establish and maintain voluntary registers and the Council for
Healthcare Regulatory Excellence would have powers to set standards for and
accredit any voluntary registers which are introduced.
5.35 However, a number of concerns have been raised in relation to the establishment
of voluntary registers. For example, the Council for Healthcare Regulatory
Excellence has in the past stated that:
In our view the introduction of an assured voluntary registration
scheme needs to be clearly distinguished from statutory regulation in
order to avoid confusing the public and undermining the validity of
either model. For this reason, we recommend that statutory regulators
should not also hold voluntary registers as it is likely that the public
may assume that the standards and controls are the same. 27
5.36 Others have argued that there is little point in a voluntary register at all since
professionals who pose a risk to the public can “drop below the radar”. 28 We
welcome further views on the establishment of voluntary registers
5.37 If voluntary registers were embedded in our new scheme, the Council for
Healthcare Regulatory Excellence could be given an express power to
recommend a group to become voluntarily registered or that a particular group
cease to be voluntarily registered (see also question 2-16). Although the
regulators would not be required to comply with any such recommendation, they
would be required to set out in a report their reasons for not doing so. We
welcome further views on this.
Question 5-6: Should the regulators be given powers to introduce voluntary
registers?
Question 5-7: If the regulators are given powers to introduce voluntary
registers, should the CHRE be given a formal power to recommend to the
regulator in question that a group should become or cease to be voluntarily
registered? If the regulator decided not to comply, it would be required to
issue a report setting out its reasons.
27
Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, Proposals for CHRE’s New Roles and
Responsibilities (2010), para 2.2.
28
See, for example, C Santry, “Bill Represents a Missed Opportunity to Regulate HCAs”
Nursing Times (1/2/11).
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