Answering that frequently asked question

‘Why should I join my professional body when I'm already paying a subscription to the HCPC and to the Union?’

To answer this question it is important to understand the individual roles of the various bodies. The simplest description is that the role of the HCPC is to protect the public, the role of the union is to protect and defend your rights as an employee and the role of the professional body is to protect and develop your profession.

Due to the rapidly evolving nature and relative infancy of our profession, it is understandable that many paramedics raise questions about the individual roles of the regulator and professional body. In this context, before describing the role of the College of Paramedics, a short overview of the roles of the other bodies follows:

As part of the essential legal framework surrounding a registered profession, a regulator has to be identified or established with certain key duties focusing upon protection of the public, which are defined by statute. The regulator's role is to protect the public and it does this by: