The Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) has a number of functions imposed on it by law (governing legislation) and their key function is to protect the public. They do this in a number of ways: for example, by setting standards for education and training, professional knowledge, skills, conduct, performance and ethics of registrants (HCPC, 2016a). They maintain a register of professionals who meet those standards. Currently, there are over 340 478 registrants on the HCPC register coming from 16 different professions (HCPC, 2016b) (see Table 1). The HCPC is a statutory UK regulator and is governed by the Health and Social Work Professions Order 2001.
| Profession | Registrants |
|---|---|
| Arts therapists | 3 887 |
| Biomedical scientists | 22 191 |
| Chiropodists/podiatrists | 13 123 |
| Clinical scientists | 5 402 |
| Dieticians | 9 004 |
| Hearing aid dispensers | 2 457 |
| Occupational therapists | 36 338 |
| Operating department practitioners | 12 836 |
| Orthoptists | 1 383 |
| Paramedics | 22 492 |
| Physiotherapists | 49 793 |
| Practitioner psychologists | 21 527 |
| Prosthetists/orthotists | 1 006 |
| Radiographers | 30 317 |
| Social workers in England | 93 491 |
| Speech and language therapists | 15 231 |
From: HCPC, 2016a
The HCPC approve programmes which professionals must successfully complete before they are able to make an application to the HCPC to register with them. The HCPC takes action when professionals who are on their register fail to meet the minimum standards that are set by them.
The successful completion of an approved programme does not automatically guarantee that the student will be able to register with the HCPC. What this does demonstrate is that the student has met the HCPCs professional standards and that they are eligible to apply for registration.
Standards of proficiency
The standards of proficiency are designed in such a way that they include all the generic and profession-specific elements required by registrants. There are 15 standards of proficiency for paramedics (HCPC, 2014a). The standards of proficiency outline safe and effective practice for the paramedic; they are the threshold standards required to protect the public. The standards set out what a student has to know, understand and be able to practice upon completion of their education, in order for them to be able to apply to the HCPC to be admitted onto the register. Once a paramedic is registered they must meet the standards of proficiency as they practice as a registrant.
Standards of education and training
The standards of education and training are generic. They are the standards against which the HCPC assesses education and training programmes for all of the professions (HCPC, 2014b), and the programme has to demonstrate that it has met the standards of proficiency for paramedics (HCPC, 2014a). Only those programmes (these are approved programmes of study) that are able to demonstrate they have met the standards for education and training can permit a student who has successfully completed that programme to make an application to the HCPC for registration. The standards of education and training address the following:
Approval visits are undertaken by the HCPCs Education Department to education providers, in order to satisfy themselves that programmes offered to students are in alignment with the standards of education and training. When a programme is able to demonstrate that it has met the standards for education and training, open-ended approval is granted. This is, however, subject to on-going monitoring.
Any education provider can seek approval of their programmes. These include universities, colleges, private/independent training institutions or a professional body.
The annual education report
The 10th annual education report has been published by the HCPC covering the period 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2015 (HCPC, 2016c). The report provides an overview of how the HCPC works when it approves and monitors educational programmes in the UK. A large evidence base is amassed when monitoring and approving programmes for the 16 professions regulated by the HCPC.
With regards to the paramedic profession, one significant aspect of the HCPCs work in 2014–15 has been to focus on paramedic programmes of study as a result of changes to national workforce planning leading to reactive commissioning of training and the development of new programmes and a subsequent increase in student numbers. There have also been changes in the professional body curriculum for paramedics as the College of Paramedics introduced its new curriculum framework (College of Paramedics, 2014). These changes have significantly impacted on the work of the Education Department at the HCPC with regards to approvals and major changes, often necessitating an increase in visits to those who are providing paramedic education.
At the beginning of the 2014–15 academic year there were 1 113 HCPC-approved programmes, which was reduced to 1 084 at the end of that academic year. The reduction was offset by the approval of new programmes. The most significant increase in approved programmes was in the paramedic profession (see Table 2).
| Profession | Number of approved programmes prior to 2014–15 | Number of approved programmes end of 2014–15 | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| Paramedic | 60 | 72 | +12 |
In the HCPC Education annual report (HCPC, 2016c), criticism was aimed at some educational institutions providing paramedic programmes of study who had failed to engage with the HCPC. They engaged only after proactive HCPC communication had been sent out. The delay in engaging with the regulator meant that some education providers had to revise their initial projected start dates for programmes once they had begun the approval process. This also meant that a higher number of conditions were imposed on several paramedic programmes, more so than on any of the other 16 professions regulated by the HCPC. Paramedic programmes represented 40% of the 43 new programmes visited, with an average of 15 conditions for each new paramedic programme.
Conclusions
There are several interesting observations to be noted when perusing the Education annual report (HCPC, 2016c). If there are to be continued changes in the ways in which paramedic training places are to be commissioned, can the regulator and education providers manage these changes effectively and efficiently? The detail in the education and training report may suggest otherwise. There is much learning to be done, particularly as to how the educational institutions engaged with (or failed to engage with) the regulator and also the resources that are required to undertake the visits.
There has been an increase in the numbers of approved programmes by the HCPC, and this trend, it could be suggested, will continue in an upward direction. There will be changes to the ways in which professions are regulated: legislative changes, for example. The regulation of social workers may have an impact on programme provision, proposed changes to funding arrangements for allied health professional programmes, the ways in which commissioning for training places is carried out and when new professions come on the HCPC register. Being prepared for these changes will ensure that future paramedics and other practitioners are appropriately prepared for their future roles.