27 September 2022 (Tuesday) - A Bit Of A Rant

The HCPC sent its newsletter today. You can read it by clicking here. There were some interesting things in there which I eventually read (particularly about the standards of proficiency), but my attention was gripped by the first article…
 
I try to maintain a professional demeanour in this blog,  but today I’m going to have a little rant. To coin a phrase I sometimes use in my other blog (which is linked in the column on the right) when I read that article my piss boiled.
 
The HCPC a statutory regulator of over two hundred and eighty thousand professionals from fifteen health and care professions throughout the United Kingdom. Its main purpose is to protect the public which it does this by setting and maintaining standards of proficiency and conduct for the professions it regulates. Its key functions include approving education and training programmes which health and care professionals must complete before they can register with the HCPC; and maintaining and publishing a register of health and care providers who meet pre-determined professional requirements and standards of practice. And holding tribunals when these professional standards aren’t met.
You can read more on Wikipedia, but basically it is a vital body instrumental in maintaining the standards of healthcare in the UK.
 
But… The body receives no funding whatsoever from the UK government. That’s not not much”, that’s “none at all”. All that it does (and it does a lot) is funded from my payments and the payments of all the other registrants.. The HCPC claims that being a financially independent institution, is crucial for maintaining fair standards for the professions they regulate. I can’t say I agree with this; especially as this costs me nearly a hundred quid a year in payments I have to make to the HCPC.
Who else pays to be able to work? And now they want to put it up by another twenty.
 
I don’t deny the HCPC needs the funding. But is funding the vital work the HCPC does in this way in any way defensible? Surely it should be funded from the public purse in the same way the NHS is funded?
Perhaps I might start a national campaign to achieve this… Or perhaps I will just content myself by having this rant and just pay the extra twenty quid.

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