Our work

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Our work

We oversee the nine health professional regulators and in doing so promote the health, safety and well-being of patients and the public. Under the NHS Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002 and the Health and Social Care Act 2008, we have the powers to carry out the work below.

What we do

  • We check how well the health professional regulators carry out their work
    Every year we carry out a performance review of each regulator. We look at how the regulators carry out their functions against agreed standards. We highlight good practice and identify issues that might benefit from a co-ordinated approach.
     
  • We audit the initial handling of fitness to practise cases
    We look at the initial stages of the regulators’ fitness to practise processes. This is when a regulator decides either to take a complaint about a health professional forward to a full fitness to practise hearing or to close the case. We look at the way regulators make these decisions and assess whether the decisions made are in the interests of patients and the public.
     
  • We refer cases to court where decisions are considered too lenient
    When concerns about the conduct or performance of a health professional are referred to a regulatory body, the regulator carries out an investigation to determine whether the concerns are valid and whether the professional should continue to practise. We look at the final stage decisions made by the regulators on professionals’ fitness to practise. If a decision is unduly lenient and fails to protect the public interest, we can refer the case to court.
     
  • We give advice on policy
    The Secretary of State and health ministers in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland request advice on policy from us about the regulation of health professions. We also provide advice, for example on matters arising from our performance reviews, when we think it will help to improve the way regulation is done. We give opinions on topical issues in our fortnightly edition of Viewpoint.

How we do it

  • Involving patients and the public in our work
    We promote the health and well-being of patients and the public in regulation. We work with patients and the public who are members of our Public Stakeholder Network and through research, consultations and meetings with other groups of patients and patient representative organisations.
     
  • Promoting good practice
    We work with the regulatory bodies to improve quality and share good practice. For example, we share learning points arising from the scrutiny of fitness to practise cases and we organise seminars to explore regulation issues
     
  • Influencing national and international policy on health professional regulation
    We consult with the UK government and governments in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland on the development of guidelines for the sector. In addition, we keep abreast of international policies that may affect health regulation in the UK, particularly in Europe. We work with colleagues in the UK and abroad, ensuring that we are aware of these developments and strengthening our relationships with these partners. We are setting up an International Observatory on the regulation of health professionals.
     
  • Communicating with our stakeholders
    We aim to communicate effectively with all our stakeholders by engaging, consulting and informing. We have a professional and a public stakeholder network and publish a bi-monthly newsletter, CHRE-News.

More information about our work can be found in our