Council For Healthcare Regulatory Excellence Publishes Results Of Its Performance Review, UK

Main Category: Dentistry
Article Date: 08 May 2007 - 11:00 PDT

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The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE), the organisation that oversees the regulation of healthcare professionals, has published the results of its 2006/07 Performance Review of healthcare regulatory bodies.

Key among the findings of the review is the fact that the volume of work continues to rise for the regulatory bodies since last year. Overall, the nine regulatory bodies have more professionals on their registers (1.191m in 2006, compared with 1.147m in 2005), and have heard more Fitness to Practise (FTP) cases than previous years (915 in 2006, compared with 764 in 2005). There have been measurable improvements in fitness to practise processes, with CHRE only referring four cases to the High Court in financial year 2006/07, compared to 10 cases referred in 2005/06.

Regulators have continued to work in partnership with each other, and to involve the public and patients in their policy-making. A good illustration of partnership working is the joint commissioning of research on how to make registers more usable for the public. Regulators have also sought to strengthen their core activities. For example, most of the regulators published additional guidance, or reviewed existing guidance, for registrants.

The performance review was set against the background of discussions arising from the UK-wide reviews of the regulation of healthcare professionals. Contributing to debates on reforming regulation and ensuring that professionals are fit to practise formed a significant part of the regulators' work this year. The reviews led to the publication of the White Paper Trust, Assurance and Safety - The Regulation of Health Professionals in the 21st Century in February 2007, which set out a considerable programme of work for the next year.

CHRE Council Member and Chairman of the General Optical Council, Rosie Varley said: "This is an exciting period in the history of the regulation of healthcare professionals following the two government reviews and with more changes on the way. This Performance Review shows that the regulatory bodies are actively addressing the challenges before them, and that, working together, we can further improve patient trust and safety."

Hew Mathewson, President of the General Dental Council said: "The GDC has proved itself to be firmly at the forefront of professional regulation, making significant changes to improve patient protection. We are pleased that CHRE has commended our ground-breaking work over the past year; in particular setting up the Dental Complaints Service, opening the register for dental care professionals and implementing changes to our fitness to practise procedures including the application of the civil standard of proof. We are embracing this year's challenges which include developing our plans for revalidating all members of the dental team, implementing changes to the constitution of the Council and increasing our engagement with the other healthcare regulators and our key stakeholders, in particular with patients and the public."

Full details of CHRE's Performance Review can be found at www.chre.org.uk

1 - The Council was established on 1 April 2003 to:

-- Promote the interests of the public and patients in the regulation of the healthcare professions.
-- Promote best practice in the regulation of the healthcare professions.
-- Develop principles for good professionally-led regulation.
-- Promote co-operation between regulatory bodies and other organisations.

2 - CHRE is an overarching, independent body which oversees the regulatory work of the following nine organisations:

-- The General Chiropractic Council
-- The General Dental Council
-- The General Medical Council
-- The General Optical Council
-- The General Osteopathic Council
-- The Health Professions Council
-- The Nursing and Midwifery Council
-- The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland
-- The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain

3 - The need for a body like CHRE was identified in the NHS Plan and reinforced in July 2001 by the Report of the Bristol Royal Infirmary Inquiry chaired by Sir Ian Kennedy.

4 - CHRE changed its name from the Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals (CRHP) in July 2004 because it better reflects the role and purpose of the UK-wide organisation and avoids possible confusion with bodies of a similar name.

5 - Cases referred to court under Section 29 of the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 will for the time being be brought under the name of CRHP because this is currently the statutory name of the organisation.

General Dental Council Performance Review Report
www.chre.org.uk

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