The HCPC has today published its response to the Department of Health’s consultation on the regulation of medical associate professions (MAPs) in the UK.
Marc Seale, HCPC’s Chief Executive and Registrar said:
‘We fully support the four UK Government’s proposals for statutory regulation of Physician’s Associates (PAs) and believe it may also be appropriate for Physician Assistants (Anaesthesia) (PA(A)s). This level of assurance, with legal accountability, standards and fitness to practise process, would provide increased public protection and offers significant benefits to service users, educators, employers and the professions themselves.
Our decision focuses on the potential risk of patient harm, the level of autonomy for these professions and the current lack of accountability to any statutory regulator. For PAs, this is particularly important given their expanding role in the workforce.
For Surgical Care Practitioners (SCPs) and Advanced Critical Care Practitioners (ACCPs), statutory regulation should be put in place if direct entry into training from non statutory regulated backgrounds is introduced.
We are ready and willing to be the regulator if asked. As a multi-professional regulator, we have extensive experience of regulating diverse professions whilst taking account of the individuality of each. With a successful track record of bringing professions into statutory regulation, our existing systems will quickly and efficiently accommodate further professions at minimal cost to the taxpayer.We also benefit from economies of scale and have the lowest renewal fee of all the nine UK regulators overseen by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA).’