CHRE-News

CHRE-News

Looking Forward to 2012

The Health and Social Care Bill is making slow but steady legislative progress. The last committee stage in the House of Lords took place on 28 November. During this process we continue to prepare for our new functions as proposed in the Bill. Otherwise, it is business as usual.

We published our audit report on the initial stages of fitness to practise for the Nursing and Midwifery Council earlier this month. We have also announced that we are investigating concerns about the General Dental Council. We will publish our report on the investigation on our website (www.chre.org.uk) when it is completed.

One of the roles proposed for us in the Health and Social Care Bill is to develop an accreditation scheme for voluntary registers. You can follow progress on this project at http://www.chre.org.uk/voluntaryregisters/.

In November, Christine Braithwaite, Director of Policy and External Relations, spoke at the NHS Employers Conference, outlining our proposals for the accreditation scheme, which received favourable interest from delegates. The process of consultation we have used so far has included a series of workshops with professionals belonging to voluntary registers and with representatives from patient groups. In this issue of CHRE-news, we publish the personal perspective of one user representative who has been participating in the process.

In early July we were asked by Sir David Nicholson to develop standards for NHS board members. We have published a policy review and will publish our public consultation on the draft standards shortly. We will welcome your responses to this consultation, which will be featured on the homepage of our website.

We responded to the EU green paper consultation on the mobility of health professionals across Europe. Our consultation response to the green paper raised concerns about the European professional card. We were pleased to note that our views were quoted in the recent report from the European Union Committee of the House of Lords. Below is an article outlining the latest developments in the mobility of health professionals across Europe.

In the article below, the General Chiropractic Council (GCC) explains how they work with enforcement agencies and others to produce guidelines on the use of X-rays in treatments provided by chiropractors.

We welcome your comments or suggestions to improve CHRE-News. Please send this information to Rachael.desouza@chre.org.uk.

 

The mobility of health professionals in Europe - latest developments

In October the House of Lords European Union Committee published a report 'Safety First: Mobility of Healthcare Professionals in the EU'. The report found that the Professional Qualifications Directive as it currently stands is striking the wrong balance between free movement and patient safety, placing patients at unacceptable risk

X-rays and the rules: safety first

Most of us have had an X-ray at some time in our lives and simple radiographs involve extremely low amounts of radiation. With each X-ray there is a cumulative effect of radiation exposure and so the clinical benefits to the patient must be carefully assessed and must outweigh any risks.

An NHS patient's view: developing the Accreditation Scheme for voluntary registers

When asked to participate in the meetings, I felt that the complex topics were difficult to grasp. I was clear on the process that CHRE chose to use within their consultation meetings because I received the paperwork in advance. At the meetings I felt welcomed and listened to.