Petition To address the failings of the Health and Care Professions Council

The HCPC is a regulator whose role is to protect the public from those who fail to meet stringent standards for conduct and competency. It does this by protecting the titles of the health professionals, making it a criminal offence to use a protected title without holding appropriate registration with them. If a registrant fails to meet the standards, they may be subject to a disciplinary process, and if the offence is serious, they may be struck-off. This safeguards the public from these clinicians, as registration is a condition of employment with the NHS. No safeguards exist in the private sector where the legislation can be readily circumvented by adopting an unprotected title. In the podiatry profession, the majority of its clinicians practice in the private sector. Recent cases exemplify these failings as individuals who have been struck-off for serious misconduct remain in practice using a different title. Calls on government to address the failings of the current regulation.