Completing an approved programme does not guarantee that you will become registered with us. But it does show us that you meet our professional standards and so are eligible to apply for registration. So that we can register you, we need more information from you.
When you first apply to join our Register, as part of your application you need to send us certain information, which includes:
- copies of relevant identification;
- a declaration regarding your health; and
- a declaration regarding your character.
All of the information that we need from you is to help us make sure that:
- you are who you say you are;
- you meet our standards; and
- we can contact you if we need to.
Find out more about the application process
When you fill in your application we ask you to declare information about your health and character. We expect you to give us any information about your health and character that is relevant to your application. Making a false declaration by providing inaccurate information or failing to provide all relevant information can result in you being removed from our Register.
The health declaration
When you apply to our Register we ask you to sign a declaration to confirm that you do not have a health condition or disability that would affect your ability to practise your profession. We call this a self-declaration. You do not need to tell us about any health condition or disability if it does not affect your ability to practise safely or you know you are able to adapt, limit or stop your practice if it does so.
You only need to declare information about a health condition or disability if you believe that it may affect your ability to practise safely and effectively. If you tell us you have a health condition or disability that may do this, we will use the information to decide whether you should be registered.
When we talk about ‘health’ we are not making judgements about whether you are ‘healthy’ or ‘in good health’. We are also not making judgements about disabilities. Having a health condition or disability should not be seen as a barrier to becoming a health and care professional. You may have a health condition or a disability which would mean you would not consider yourself to be ‘in good health’.
However, as long as you manage your health condition or disability appropriately, and have insight into and understanding of your disability, this will not prevent you from registering with us.
Example
After successfully completing an approved programme, a dietitian with epilepsy is applying for registration with us. He has been taking the same medication for over two years and has not had a seizure during this time. He has made plans for combining work with his condition, which include telling his colleagues and keeping a small supply of medication somewhere safe at work. His insight into and understanding and management of his condition means that he is able to sign the declaration to declare that his health condition would not affect his fitness to practise, without telling us any information about his condition.
If we accept you on our Register, you will need to renew your registration with us every two years. At this point, you will need to sign a declaration to say that there has been no change to your health that may affect your ability to practise safely and effectively.
If you are not sure whether your health condition or disability affects your fitness to practise, you should tell us anyway and give us as much information as you can, so we can assess this. We have produced further guidance called ‘Guidance on health and character’, which contains information about how we consider information that you declare about your health.
