Health professional regulation

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Health professional regulation

Health professional regulation

Healthcare regulation

Healthcare across the UK is regulated by a range of different organisations working in a number of different ways. Some regulators check the quality and safety of services – for example the Care Quality Commission in England or the Regulation and Quality Improvement Agency in Northern Ireland. Others work on the quality and safety of medicines and medical devices – for example the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.

We oversee the organisations that regulate health professionals across the UK. The nine health professional regulatory bodies were set up to protect and promote the safety of the public.

They do this by

Setting the standards of behaviour, competence and education that health professionals must meet
Dealing with concerns from patients, the public and others about health professionals who are unfit to practise because of poor health, misconduct or poor performance
Keeping registers of health professionals who are fit to practise in the UK.
The regulators can remove professionals from their registers and prevent them from practising if they consider this to be in the best interests of the public.

The health professional regulators

Between them, the nine regulators register and regulate approximately 1.2million health professionals working across the UK in 31 different health professions. These health professionals must by law register with the regulator in order to practise.

The regulators have produced a leaflet to help the public to ensure that they receive care and treatment from professionals who meet the right standards.

Below is a list of the nine regulators and the professions they regulate:

General Chiropractic Council (GCC)