GOsC responds to consultation on reforms for professional regulation

The DHSC published the ‘Regulating healthcare professionals, protecting the public’ consultation on 24 March 2021, setting out the ambition of reforming the legislation of healthcare regulators across these four key areas:

• Governance and Operating Framework
• Education and Training
• Registration
• Fitness to practise

Commenting on the GOsC response, Matthew Redford, GOsC’s Chief Executive and Registrar, said: ‘We were pleased to have the opportunity to respond to the consultation. In accordance with our statutory objectives, our approach is to ensure that the future regulatory system works in partnership with patients and the professions, so that it continues to have the protection of the public and patients at its heart.

‘The GOsC shares the ambition of the proposals, as we recognise that legislation which is inflexible, outdated and prescriptive hampers the efforts of regulators to fulfil their statutory objectives of protecting the public. Public protection would be best served by the exercise of legislation which is proportionate, agile and cost effective and this is reflected in our consultation response’.

GOsC’s response to the consultation is supportive of many of the proposals, which we believe will ensure that the future regulatory system is enhanced. Within our response, where we have disagreed with some of the proposals, we have set out our rationale for why we have reached that view and we have also set out where we think the proposals could be further clarified or strengthened.

The DHSC consultation, which considers the next steps for the reform of professional regulation, builds on the White Paper ‘Integration and innovation: working together to improve health and social care for all’ that was announced by the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care in February 2021.

The White Paper, which set out plans for a new Health and Care Bill, seeks to extend the powers of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to make changes to the regulation of healthcare professions, including the power to remove a profession from regulation, to close down a regulator and the power to allow regulators to delegate functions to another body.

Last week, Matthew published a blog around the proposed reforms and we intend to publish more about our response in the coming weeks to help osteopaths, patients and others engage with the proposals.

Read the GOsC response