Who are the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care?

Who are the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care? The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care – or ‘Authority’, for the purposes of this article – was formerly known as the Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence (CHRE).

The Authority oversees statutory bodies that regulate health and social care professionals in the UK, including the General Medical Council (medical doctors), Nursing and Midwifery Council (nurses and midwives); General Chiropractic Council (chiropractors), and Health and Care Professions Council (arts therapy, chiropody/podiatry, nutrition, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, practitioner psychologists, and others).

The Authority also sets standards for organisations holding voluntary registers for health and social care occupations that are not statutorily regulated, such as complementary therapy, and accredits registers that meet these standards. These accredited registers are referred to as Accredited Registers.

There may be more than one Accredited Register representing the same occupation, ie. counsellors may be on the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy register and/or the National Counselling Association register.

Around 98 per cent of practising FHT Members and Fellows are eligible to be on the FHT’s Complementary Healthcare Therapist Register. This is because they hold at least one qualification that is considered a form of complementary therapy that is widely practised and accepted as a form of healthcare.

Currently, the following therapies are on the FHT’s Complementary Healthcare Therapist Register:

• Alexander technique
• Aromatherapy
• Body massage
• Bowen technique
• Cranio sacral therapy
• Healing
• Homeopathy
• Hypnotherapy
• Kinesiology
• Microsystems acupuncture
• Naturopathy
• Nutritional therapy
• Reflexology
• Reiki
• Shiatsu
• Sports massage
• Sports therapy
• Yoga therapy.

All of these therapies have national occupational standards (NOS) that have been set by Skills for Health or SkillsActive – the Sector Skills Councils responsible for setting standards for these particular therapies in the UK. Over time, we are hoping that other therapies that have relevant NOS can be added to the FHT Register, where it can be demonstrated that these are widely used and accepted as a form of healthcare.

For further information on the PSA please click here