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Health & Care Professionals

Health and Social Care Professions

The Health and Social Care Professionals Act provides for the statutory regulation of the twelve professions currently designated under the Act, namely the professions of clinical biochemist, dietitian, medical scientist, occupational therapist, orthoptist, physiotherapist, podiatrist, psychologist, radiographer, social care worker, social worker and speech and language therapist.

Regulation is primarily by way of the statutory protection of professional titles by confining their use solely to persons granted registration under the Act. The structure of the system of statutory registration comprises registration boards, a committee structure to deal with disciplinary matters, and a Health and Social Care Professionals Council with overall responsibility for the regulatory system.

The Health and Social Care Professionals Council regulate the following professions:

  • Clinical biologist;
  • Dietician;
  • Medical scientist;
  • Occupational therapist;
  • Orthopedist;
  • Physiotherapist;
  • Podiatrist;
  • Psychologist;
  • Radiographer;
  • Social care worker;
  • Social worker;
  • Speech and language therapy.

Further bodies may be designated by the Minister for  Health.

Role of Council

The Council oversees the activities of the various registration boards.  It provides administrative support and assistance. It establishes committees of enquiry into complaints against the designated professionals.

The Council may make rules in relation to the establishment, management and functions of registration boards for each profession. It may maintain registers.

Registration boards are established for the above-designated professions.  Registration boards

  • establish registers of members,
  • monitors continued suitability of programmes of education and training for applicants,
  • gives guidance concerning ethical conduct,
  • makes recommendations in respect of sanctions.

Membership boards are to be appointed by the minister to include persons from the profession, with others who are representative of educational interests, management and representatives of the public interest.

Registration Boards I

The Council’s chief executive is the registrar of each registration board.  The registration board may make bye-laws relating to the appointment of professional members of the Council,

  • qualifications and proficiency,
  • applications for registration,
  • procedures for awards, training, education
  • continuous professional development,
  • codes of conduct and other matters.

Registration boards may establish committees to perform their functions.

Registration Boards II

Registration boards approve education and training standards.  They must monitor continued suitability of education and training bodies and providers.

The registration board must maintain the relevant registers. Professional designations may not be used without the requisite registration.  Failure to do so is an offence subject prosecutable by summary proceedings or indictment.

Fees must be paid for the maintenance of registration on an ongoing basis.  There may be provisions for appeals against refusals of registration.

A person may apply to the Council for cancellation of the decision by a registration board refusing registration or refusing restoration of membership.  There are provisions for appeals to Court against the Council\’s decision.

Conduct and Discipline

The Council establishes a preliminary proceedings committee, a professional conduct committee and a health committee analogous applicable to the Medical Council.  The grounds for complaint and procedures are broadly similar to that applicable to the Medical Council.

The preliminary proceedings committee may refer the matter to the disciplinary committee of enquiry.  They may refer the matter to mediation if and where agreed.

There are procedures for the conduct of hearings. Witnesses may be summoned and the hearing committee has similar powers to those of a High Court Judge. A report to Council is made by the committee of enquiry in relation to its finding.

If the allegation is substantiated the Council requests the opinion of the registration board in relation to disciplinary sanctions.  The registration board may recommend to the Council sanctions ranging from censure to the imposition of conditions, suspension, cancellation or strike off.

The decisions should not take effect until confirmed by Court.  A person affected can appeal to Court on the merits.  Otherwise, the Council applies to Court to confirm the decision.  The Court confirms the Council\’s direction unless it has good reason not to do so.

2012 Act

A number of amendments were made in 2012  to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to ensure the effective functioning of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and the registration boards established under the Act. These amendments mainly concern membership, fees, fines and registration criteria. Amendments are also required to take account of the provisions of Directive 2005/36/EC of the European Parliament and the Council of 7 September 2005 on the recognition of professional qualifications and also to provide for the assessment and recognition of qualifications obtained outside the State which are outside the scope of the Directive.

The 2005 Act provides for the establishment of a system of statutory registration for the following twelve designated health and social care professions: clinical biochemist, dietitian, medical scientist, occupational therapist, orthoptist, physiotherapist, podiatrist, psychologist, radiographer, social care worker, social worker and speech and language therapist. Only registrants will be permitted to use these titles when all the registers have completed their two-year transitional periods.

The structure of the system of statutory registration comprises a registration board for each of the twelve designated professions, a Health and Social Care Professionals Council with overall responsibility for the regulatory system and a committee structure to deal with disciplinary matters.

The Health and Social Care Professionals Council was established in March 2007. In August 2010, the Minister established the first of twelve registration boards, the Social Workers Registration Board, and, following the making by the registration board of the necessary bye-laws, the board established its register in May 2011. When the two year transitional period ends in May 2013 the social worker profession will be fully regulated under the Act.

The Radiographers Registration Board was established in December 2011 and it is envisaged that it will establish its register in the fourth quarter of this year. A further four Registration Boards are due to be established by the Minister during 2012.

Purpose of 2012 Act

The main purpose of the Act is to amend the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to allow the Minister to continue to appoint professional members to the Council until such time as the twelve registration boards are established under the Act and are in a position to nominate elected members. Due to unforeseen delays in establishing the twelve registration boards and their registers under the 2005 Act the Minister for Health was unable to appoint professional members to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council on the completion of the terms of office of the twelve such members appointed when the Council was first constituted.

The  Minister for Health was given power to continue to appoint professional members to vacancies arising on the Council until such time as all registration boards were established under the Act and were in a position to nominate elected members for appointment to the Council.

When their registers have been established, registration boards will be (i) designated as competent authorities under Directive 2005/36/EC; (ii) empowered to act as competent authorities for their designated professions under Directive 2005/36/EC; and (iii) empowered to assess qualifications obtained outside the State which are outside the scope of the Directive. This section also provides for necessary transition arrangements in relation to applications under the Directive.

A Registration Board may make bye-laws relating to (i) procedures for the assessment of professional qualifications, training, experience, aptitude tests or adaptation periods of applicants for registration whose professional qualifications have been obtained outside the State and are outside the scope of the Directive; (ii) practice/training requirements for professionals who wish to resume the practice of their profession having not practised for a specific period of time; and (iii) the practice periods that may be required of existing practitioners wishing to register during their register’s two-year transition period.

Persons returning to practice must satisfy criteria and fulfil conditions specified by bye- law before they are granted registration; A registration board must notify applicants of the time they are allowed to apply to the Council to cancel a decision or to appeal to the High Court. The proviono also applies to notifications of decisions relating to the recognition of qualifications obtained outside the State.

The registration board has functions in respect of the assessment and recognition of qualifications obtained outside the State.There are time-frames in which a registration board must (i) acknowledge applications for such recognition and (ii) notify applicants of decisions. There is a right of appeal to the Council in relation to the performance of the qualifications recognition function.

There is an appeal to the High Court from decisions of the Council on applications (appeals) relating to decisions of a registration board on qualification recognition.

Temporary service providers (professionals who are established in another EEA state who provide services in the State on a temporary and occasional basis), whose qualifications have been assessed by a Registration Board, may be permitted to use Irish professional titles; this is a provision of Directive 2005/36/EC.

The 2012 Act increased the maximum fine for offences relating to the use of professional titles or the making of a false declaration or misrepresentation for the purpose of obtaining registration under the Act.

There are  practice periods required of existing practitioners in order to be registered during the transitional period to be not less than two years or such other period as may be specified by bye-law by the relevant registration board

An existing practitioner to use the relevant title until the end of the transitional  period and, where an application for registration is made during the transitional period, while the application or related appeal is being determined. The 2012 Act  amends Schedule 1 of the Act to permit the Minister to appoint a member of the Council.

2014 Amendments

The Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 201 4  amends the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to divide the designated profession of radiographer into the two designated professions of radiographer and radiation therapist, to permit a registration board to regulate two or more designated professions, and to introduce uniformity between that Act and certain provisions of other Acts which regulate medical practitioners, nurses and midwives. It ensures that statutory contributions are payable by recipients of residential support services who are maintained, though not directly accommodated, by or on behalf of the Health Service Executive.

The 2014 Act increased the number of designated professions to fifteen by designating the professions of optometrist and dispensing optician and by dividing the designated profession of radiographer into the two designated professions of radiographer and radiation therapist.

The  professions of dispensing optician, optometrist and radiation therapist are designated. The Health and Social Care Professionals Council (the Council) is to elect a deputy chairperson. The Health (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2014 allows for the delegation of the functions of the Council or a registration board to the chief executive officer or to a member of staff of the Council if the chief executive office is absent or the position is vacant.

The Optical Registration Board is the registration board for the designated professions of optometrist and dispensing optician. The Radiographers Registration Board is the registration board for the designated professions of radiographer and radiation therapist.

The registration board is to establish a register for each of its professions and to delegate its functions to the registrar of a registration board.

The Registration board has power to make bye-laws including power to make bye-laws relating to the prescription and sale of spectacles. Aregistration board shall enter in the register the name of a temporary service provider entitled to use a title specified or prescribed under the Act and whose professional qualifications have been assessed and verified under Title II of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications.

The radiographers division and the radiation therapists division of the radiographers register are deemed to be the register of radiographers and the register of radiation therapists respectively.

2017 Act

The Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Act 2017  amends certain provisions of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to

  • Address identified gaps in the provisions relating to the appointment of professional members to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and to registration boards;
  • Permit a registration board to apply training and education conditions to applicants for registration who have not yet practised their profession; and
  • Provide further conditions for the registration of physiotherapists/ physical therapists in the register of physiotherapists.

Background

The Act addressed identified gaps relating to the appointment of professional members to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and to the registration boards. It allowed the Minister for Health to make the initial appointment of a professional member to the Council when a new profession is designated by amendment of the Act and also to fill casual vacancies among professional members where the relevant registration board had not yet established its register.

The Act will allows the Minister to appoint professional members directly to the registration boards during the transitional period of the professions concerned.

The  Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Act 2017 amended the 2005 Act to permit a registration board to make bye-laws to apply conditions in relation to education, training, etc. to applicants for registration who are qualified for a specified period of time but who have never practiced their profession. The Act already has such provisions in respect of applicants who wish to resume the practice of that profession after not having practised the profession for a period specified in the bye-laws.

In relation to the profession of physiotherapist, the Act facilitates the Minister’s proposal to make regulations to prescribe the title of physical therapist as a variant of the title of physiotherapist in order to eliminate the ongoing risk of title confusion and the consequent risks to public safety. Specifically, it permits the registration in the register of physiotherapists, on a once-offbasis and for a limited period, of qualified users of the title of physical therapist, of recent graduates (since 2013) of the Institute of Physical Therapy and Applied Science, Dublin (IPTAS) and of current students that graduate from the final IPTAS programme that commenced in 2016 and will end in 2019.

The effect of prescribing the title of physical therapist as a variant of the title of physiotherapist will be to protect both titles under the Act by confining their use solely to registrants of the profession of physiotherapist. The decision to allow certain qualified users of the title ofphysical therapist and graduating students to register as physiotherapists and to use the titles of physiotherapist and physical therapist took into account, appropriately and subject to ensuring public protection, the legitimate concerns of the practitioners involved and the other parties that will be affected by the regulations.

Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Act 2017 allows the Minister for Health to make the initial appointment of a professional member to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council when a new profession is designated by amendment of the Act as well as by regulation. It  permits the Minister to appoint professional members to the Council to fill casual vacancies where the relevant registration board has not yet established its register.

The Minister appoints professional members to a registration board of 2 or more designated professions during the transitional period of the profession concerned.

Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Act 2017 amends the registration board’s power to make bye-laws to permit a registration board to make bye-laws to apply conditions in relation to education, training, etc. to applicants for registration who are qualified for a specified period of time but who have never practiced their profession.

It provides for the registration in the register of physiotherapists, on a once-off basis and for a limited period, of recent graduates (since 2013) of the Institute of Physical Therapy and Applied Science, Dublin (IPTAS) and of the current students of the IPTAS programme that will graduate with the relevant qualifications.

It provides for the registration in the register of physiotherapists, on a once-off basis and for a limited period, of existing users of the title of physical therapist who hold specified qualifications awarded by the Institute of Physical Therapy and Applied Science, Dublin or equivalent qualifications or who successfully complete an assessment of professional competence set by the Physiotherapists Registration Board.

2020 Act

A person seeking registration must declare if they have been refused registration, have been suspended or removed from registration or had conditions imposed in relation to working in one or more than one kind health or social care profession or if the person has a conviction in the State or another jurisdiction.ns, etc.

All registrants must give to their relevant registration board details annually of any proceedings in the State or another jurisdiction which might result in the registrant being restricted or prohibited from working in their profession or in one or more kind of health or social care profession, or if the proceedings could result in a conviction. The registrant also needs to provide details within 3 months of the case concluding.

A registrant must notify the registration board of any material matter (defined in section 24).

A registration board may get information from another health or social care regulatory body in or outside the State in relation to a registrant who has been refused registration; has been suspended; has conditions placed on his/her registration; has a conviction; or in relation to the registrant’s qualification for registration.

There are  two new grounds of complaint. These new grounds are:

  • prohibition on providing one or more kind of health or social care in the State or another jurisdiction; and
  • restrictions on providing one or more kinds of health or social care in the State or another jurisdiction.

The chief executive officer, in relation to a complaint, may request the Garda Síochána to provide information on a registrant’s criminal record. The chief executive officer may also request the Registrar of a Court to provide a certificate of conviction.

The sanctions of admonishment and censure can be appealed and require confirmation by the High Court.

The Minister is no longer notified of sanctions and the HSE and any other appropriate person will be notified. In relation to sanctions imposed by other states, the Council shall notify the HSE and the employer if it is in the public interest. If the Council believes that the person is registered in another country and that country may not be aware of the sanctions imposed, the Council can notify the relevant body in that country. In relation to sanctions imposed by a third country, the Council can, if it is in the public interest, notify another country where the person is registered.

All sanctions imposed by the Council will be published. Sanctions imposed by other countries may be published if it is in the public interest to do so. Information Council may publish in public interest

The Council does not have to consult with the committee of inquiry in relation to publication of all or part of the proceedings of the committee of inquiry.

Notifications of decisions will be sent by pre-paid post to the address in the register and shall be deemed to have been delivered on the third working day after it was sent.

Documents in relation to a registrant being prohibited or restricted in providing one or more kinds of health or social care, or having a conviction in the State or another jurisdiction, can be admissible as evidence of the facts stated in the documents.

The Council, a registration board, the preliminary proceedings committee or a committee of inquiry can specify the forms that a person has to complete and can also specify how the form should be completed.

2022 Act

The purpose of the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2022 is to address a number of mainly registration related issues affecting certain cohorts of registrants with the Medical Council and with the Health and Social Care Professionals Council (CORU). The Act will also make a small number of amendments to the Medical Council’s complaints investigation process as well as in relation to liability in civil proceedings for specified persons. To address these issues, and other technical and consequential matters, amendments are required to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005, the Medical Practitioners Act 2007 and certain un-commenced provisions of the Regulated Professions (Health and Social Care) (Amendment) Act 2020.

The Act also seeks to ensure that social care workers applying for registration with CORU are required to meet the same safe standards as all other CORU professions. In addition, it provides that the Minister may prescribe or vary by Order the qualifications to be listed in Schedule 3 of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005.

The 2022 Act  amends the 2005 Act to provide the same safe entry route to the register of Social Care Workers as exists for the other professions which CORU regulates.

The Minister may prescribe and vary by Order the qualifications contained in Schedule 3 of the Act. Schedule 3 of the 2005 Act lists qualifications which are acceptable for registration for practitioners already engaged in the practise of the profession during the transitional period after a board is established and must be capable of being updated to reflect new qualifications which are acceptable over time.

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