The UK Department of Health and Social Care has published proposed changes to healthcare regulation and opened a public consultation. The aim of the reform is to make healthcare professional regulation "faster, fairer, and more flexible and to minimize costs to registrants." The consultation includes "detailed proposals to modernize each of the healthcare professional regulators' legislative frameworks." The proposed reforms cover four key areas: governance and operating framework, education and training, registration, and fitness to practice.
Just a few highlights:
- devolve many of the decisions about day to day procedures to the regulators themselves
- create a duty to co-operate, specific duties in relation to transparency, and a duty to assess the proportionality of changes to rules and procedures before they are introduced
- power for all regulators to set their fees without Parliamentary oversight
- power to set standards for and approve specific courses or programs of training rather than just the providers
- a consistent framework for fitness to practice across all regulators
- regulation of physician associates and anesthesia associates
Julie Maciura with Steinecke Maciura LeBlanc offers analysis and commentary on the consultation paper in the April issue of Grey Areas
