Health and Care Bill: professional regulation
Updated 10 March 2022
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This fact sheet explains how the government plans to widen the scope of section 60 of the Health Act 1999 and enable the Privy Council to make additional changes to the professional regulation system, through secondary legislation.
Background
The case for reforming professional regulation has long been acknowledged. The UK model of regulation for healthcare professionals is rigid, complex and needs to change in order to better protect patients, support our health and care services and to help the workforce meet future challenges. In doing so, it needs to be faster, fairer, more flexible and more cost effective.
In 2017, the UK government and the devolved administrations launched the promoting professionalism, reforming regulation consultation on high-level principles to reform the regulatory framework of healthcare professionals.
This set out 5 objectives, to:
- improve the protection of the public from the risk of harm from poor professional practice
- support the development of a flexible workforce that is better able to meet the challenges of delivering healthcare in the future
- deal with concerns about the performance of professionals in a more proportionate and responsive fashion
- provide greater support to regulated professionals in delivering high quality care
- increase the efficiency of the system
The 2017 consultation included questions relating to the provisions in the Bill. The government response set out the proposals that were welcomed by key stakeholders, including professional organisations, regulatory bodies and employers.
The consultation response also highlighted the case for broader changes to the regulatory landscape including reducing the number of regulatory bodies. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care further committed to reviewing the number of health and care professional regulatory bodies in the November 2020 Busting Bureaucracy policy paper.
In March 2021, the UK government published a further consultation regulating healthcare professionals, protecting the public that sets out proposed reforms to the regulatory bodies’ legislation in 4 key areas:
- governance and operating framework
- education and training
- registration
- fitness to practice
The government will consult on the criteria to consider in deciding whether health and care professions should be regulated in the UK.
The powers we are seeking in the Bill form a part of this broader reform programme. The powers take into consideration the government response to the Law Commission’s review of UK law relating to the regulation of healthcare professionals and, the recent review (led by Tom Kark QC) of the fit and proper persons test.
What the bill will do
The powers sought form part of a wider programme to create a more flexible and proportionate professional regulatory framework that is better able to protect patients and the public.
Section 60 of the Health Act 1999 provides powers to make changes to the professional regulatory landscape through secondary legislation. These additional powers will widen the scope of section 60 and enable the Privy Council to make additional changes.
The powers will enable:
- the abolition of an individual health and care professional regulatory body where the professions concerned have been deregulated or are being regulated by another body
- the removal of professions from regulation where regulation is no longer required for the protection of the public
- the delegation of previously restricted functions to other regulatory bodies through legislation
- the regulation of groups of workers concerned with physical or mental health of individuals, whether or not they are generally regarded as a profession, such as senior managers and leaders
Secondary legislation made using the new powers would be subject to the existing provision in Schedule 3 of the Health Act 1999, namely, public consultation and the affirmative parliamentary procedure.
How these provisions will help to improve safety and quality
The Bill provisions will help to simplify, streamline and modernise the legal framework for the regulation of health and care professions. Stakeholders have expressed that having nine separate professional regulatory bodies is inefficient and confusing for the public. The powers will enable the changes to be made to make the professional regulatory landscape more streamlined and work more flexibly. The powers will also make it easier to ensure that the professions protected in law are the right ones and that the level of regulatory oversight is proportionate to the risks to the public.
Further information
Promoting professionalism, reforming regulation, October 2017
Promoting professionalism, reforming regulation consultation response, July 2019
Busting bureaucracy: empowering frontline staff by reducing excess bureaucracy in the health and care system in England, November 2020
Regulating healthcare professionals, protecting the public, March 2021
Law Commission’s Regulation of Health and Social Care Professionals, April 2014
A review of the fit and proper persons test, November 2018