Press Release
HPC issues response to the government consultation on the regulation of practitioner psychologists
20 March 2008
HPC welcomes the opportunity to regulate practitioner psychologists
Today the Health Professions Council has issued its response to the Department of Health’s consultation welcoming the opportunity to regulate practitioner psychologists.
The Department of Health launched its ‘Health Care and Associated Professions (Miscellaneous Amendments) No 2 Order 2008’ consultation paper on the 21 December 2007.
The consultation documents sets out that the psychologists to be regulated by the HPC are those who use their psychological expertise to offer services to the public. This will include: clinical, counselling, educational/child, forensic, health, occupational and sport and exercise psychologists.
Within the consultation response, HPC have stated that independent statutory regulation of practitioner psychologists is essential in order to protect members of the public and that they should be regulated by the HPC.
As a multi-professional regulator, HPC has the necessary experience of successfully taking on new professions and integrating them onto the Register.
HPC President, Anna van der Gaag, said;
“Practitioner psychologists provide an important service and we would welcome the opportunity to regulate these professionals.
Last year we established a Professional Liaison Group (PLG) that included members of the psychology profession, to work on the draft standards of proficiency for psychologists in anticipation of psychologists joining our register.
We are looking forward to the results of this consultation and continuing to work effectively and in collaboration with our stakeholders from this profession”.
The consultation response also confirms the HPC’s support for the
statutory regulation of counsellors, psychotherapists and others who deliver psychological therapies. Regulation of these groups should be dealt with in a further Order. HPC plan to establish a PLG later this year in collaboration with representative of these groups to explore and make recommendations regarding regulation
The full consultation response document is available to download on the HPC website.
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