Regulation:

1

• Regulation
• Friend or Foe?
• Wessex Psychotherapy Society
• 28 February 2009

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• How did we get here?
• (and where are we anyway?)

3
Regulation Friend or Foe?

• Late 1990s Lord Alderdice and the Psychotherapy
  Bill
• Regulation of Psychologists
• Shipman, Donaldson, Foster and the White Paper
  (Feb 07)

4
Trust, Assurance and Safety The Regulation of
Health Professionals in the 21st Century

• The Government is planning to introduce
  statutory regulation for applied
  psychologists.psychotherapists and counsellors
  and other psychological therapists because their
  practice is well established and widespread.and
  what they do carried significant risk to patients
  and the public if poorly done.

5

• The Governments view is that most professions
  should be regulated by the HPC.Psychologists,
  psychotherapists and counsellors will be
  regulated by the HPC. This will be the first
  priority for future regulation.

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What is Statutory Regulation?

• A profession is regulated by an independent
  council, or regulator
• The title is protected rather than the activity
  counsellor/psychotherapist, not
  counselling/psychotherapy
• Who goes on to, and is removed from, the Register
  is up to the regulator
• The regulator decides what enables you to get on
  the register in the first place

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So who does it affect?

• Everybody who wants to call themselves a
  counsellor and/or psychotherapist
• All sectors public, voluntary, independent
• Paid and unpaid work

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What is the HPC?

• A regulator set up to protect the public
• Keeping a register of health professionals who
  meet their standards for training, professional
  skills, behaviour and health
• Able to prosecute for false use of a title,
  leading to prevention of practice
• Clients can raise concerns directly with the HPC

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Bedfellows

• Arts therapists biomedical scientists
  chiropodists/podiatrists clinical scientists
  operating department practitioners orthoptists
  paramedics physiotherapists prosthetists
  orthotists radiographers speech and language
  therapists
• Soon to be practitioner psychologists

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Register title Arts Therapists

• Protected Titles
• Art psychotherapist
• Art therapist
• Dramatherapist
• Music therapist

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Where are we now?

• The PLG (Professional Liaison Group) is in
  process, from Dec 08 May 09

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PLG Function

• To recommend
• Structure and protected titles
• Who transfers in automatically on day 1
• Standards of proficiency threshold standards
  for public protection
• Standards of education and training educational
  award level

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PLG Form

• 5 two day meetings over 6 months
• Starts from the Call for ideas consultation
• One day meeting with wider reference group
• Makes its recommendations to the HPC in July 2009

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PLG membership

• Professional bodies BACP, BPC, UKCP, BABCP,
  COSCA, Relate
• CPCAB (awarding body)
• We Need to Talk (Client representation)
• HE representation from Scotland and Northern
  Ireland
• Skills for Health
• 3 professional and 4 lay HPC members

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Next steps

• HPC consults on the recommendation
• HPC concludes on the consultation
• HPC recommends to Government on the regulation of
  counselling and psychotherapy

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.and

• Government drafts legislation (Section 60 order)
  to go before parliament
• Legislation is consulted on
• Legislation is passed in Scottish and UK
  parliaments
• Register opens 2011?

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soprobably

• Register opens to
• Those on agreed voluntary registers
• Those who have completed agreed approved standard
  courses
• Existing voluntary registers close or change

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Grandparenting period (2-3 years)

• Approved course transition period
• Individual application
• After grandparenting, acceptance on to the HPC
  Register is through completion of an approved
  course ONLY

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HPC Standards

• Standards of Proficiency
• Standards of Education and Training
• Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics

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Standards of Proficiency (Arts Therapists)

• 1 Professional autonomy and accountability
• 2 Identification and assessment of health and
  social care needs
• 3 Knowledge, understanding and skills

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Professional autonomy and accountability

• Practice within legal and ethical boundaries
• Non discriminatory practice
• Understand and maintain confidentiality
• Understand and obtain informed consent
• Self management of workload
• Maintain fitness to practice

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Maintain fitness to practice

• Generic
• Understand the need to practice safely and
  effectively in their own scope of practice
• Specific
• Recognise that the obligation to maintain
  fitness to practice includes engagement in their
  own arts based process

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Knowledge, Understanding and Skills

• Know and understand key concepts of the bodies of
  knowledge relevant to profession-specific practice

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Key concepts

• Generic Understand the structure and function of
  the human body, relevant to their practice,
  together with knowledge of health, disease,
  disorder and dysfunction
• Specific Understand the psychological and
  cultural background to health, and be aware of
  its influences on the client-therapist
  relationship

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Standards of Education and Training

• 1 Level of qualification
• 2 Programme admissions
• 3 Programme management and resource standards
• 4 Curriculum standards
• 5 Practice placement standards
• 6 Assessment standards

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Programme admissions

• Clear entry requirements
• Written and spoken English
• Criminal convictions
• Health
• APEL and inclusion mechanisms
• Equal Opportunity and Anti Discriminatory
  policies implementation and monitoring

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Curriculum standards

• Relevant to current practice
• Learning outcomes meet SoPs
• Integration of theory and practice
• Autonomous and reflective thinking
• Evidence based practice
• Teaching congruent with subject
• Philosophy, values, skills and knowledge of prof
  body curriculum are met

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Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics

• Fundamentally about fitness to practice
• Panels include one HPC person, one lay person and
  one person from the profession, plus legal
  adviser similar to BACP
• Heard in public and findings made public

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Conduct

• Act in best interests of client
• Respect Confidentiality
• High standards of personal conduct

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Performance

• CPD
• Practise within competence
• Good communication
• Get informed consent
• Keep accurate records
• Deal safely with infection risk
• Know when to stop work (eg health)

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Ethics

• Act professionally and ethically
• With integrity and honesty
• Advertise truthfully
• Do not bring your profession into disrepute