Martin to publish Bill to regulate health workers

Thousands of therapists, psychologists and other health professionals will be regulated by the State for the first time under legislation aimed at protecting the public from poor standards of care.

The proposals, due to be published next month by the Minister for Health, Mr Martin, will oblige a range of health workers to be officially registered, properly trained and qualified.

Health professionals found guilty of misconduct face penalties which include being struck off the official register and being prevented from practising, sources in the Department of Health have confirmed.

At present just a handful of healthcare staff are subject to statutory regulation, including doctors, nurses, dentists, opticians and pharmacists.

The new system will regulate the activities of more than 11,500 professionals working in the public sector and thousands in the private sector.

Those affected will include chiropodists, dieticians, physiotherapists, speech-and-language therapists, occupational therapists, radiographers, social workers, medical scientists and clinical biochemists.

The titles of various professions will also be protected and it will be an offence for a person who is unregistered to offer professional services to the public.

The measures are contained in the Health and Social Care Professionals Bill, which is due to be published next month.

Alternative or complementary medicine will not be affected, although these areas are likely to face separate regulation in the coming years.

While the move is expected to be broadly welcomed by professional groups, some fear the new standards will be too vague and may lack detail such as mandatory qualifications for some categories of staff.

Social care workers' representative groups, for example, have been lobbying to ensure only properly qualified staff should be able to work with young people in community and residential settings.

However, studies suggest that more than half of staff who work with children in residential care do not hold any relevant qualification.

The legislation will provide for a new Health and Social Care Professionals Council that will set the standards which workers must meet in order to become registered.

It will also have three statutory committees to deal with disciplinary matters. Members of the public will be able to make complaints to the relevant arm of the council which will investigate the claims.

It is expected that the official register will be publicly available, allowing patients to check and see if their health professional is properly trained and qualified.

There will also be a registration board for each profession to be registered.

The measures are broadly similar to Britain's health pro- fessionals council which was established in the summer of last year.

The new system is the culmination of several years of consultation and discussion between the Department of Health and interest groups, along with research by the Institute of Public Administration.

It has been delayed on numerous occasions for various reasons, including legal question marks over the protection and recognition of professional titles.

This included a dispute over whether physiotherapists and physical therapists would be recognised as a single or separate professions.

The legislation is expected to be published in the coming weeks if there are no remaining legal difficulties, according to sources familiar with the Bill.