PSA: the mark of quality

PSA: the mark of quality Karen Smith

PSA Communications & Marketing Officer

Being a registrant on an Accredited Register – and being able to use the associated Quality Mark – demonstrates commitment to professional standards and ethical behaviour and increases public confidence. The job of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) is to educate stakeholders in the healthcare sector as to the importance of the benefits of the programme.

There is increasing recognition that Accredited Registers offer tangible benefits in areas such as safeguarding vulnerable patients and providing employers with assurance in recruiting roles which are not regulated by law. Our robust complaints handling process demonstrates that registrants are held accountable and builds on that assurance.

We also aim to ensure that the government of the day considers the value of Accredited Register practitioners in developing national policy. For example, in supporting proposals for a holistic approach to mental health and wellbeing, our response to the Department of Health and Social Care’s discussion paper for a new mental health plan for England focused on the range of services available and the assurance that the Quality Mark provides.

Closer to home, you should have recently received news from the BAcC concerning a new updated marketing toolkit for all registrants. This package is designed to support you in your marketing activity and to raise awareness of the Accredited Register programme and its benefits, which in turn benefits you as a healthcare practitioner. We do hope you find this kind of offering useful and we welcome any feedback via our BAcC contact Ian Appleyard 〉 i.appleyard.acupuncture.org.uk

In the ten years since its creation the Accredited Registers programme has grown to include over 100,000 registrants working in over 60 roles and continues to expand. We have recently received applications from eight new registers, with further announcements due in the coming weeks. With this growth, together with increasing recognition from the NHS and government, we believe the benefits for registers and registrants are stronger than ever.

Following a comprehensive review, we introduced an important ‘public interest’ test which evaluates whether benefits of activities practised by our registrants outweigh the risks. We believe this will strengthen the assurance the programme offers to patients, services users, employers, and to other interested parties.

Although we have yet to assess the BAcC against the public interest test, most recently we highlighted as good practice the BAcC’s work in publishing comprehensive information concerning the evidence base for acupuncture, and its advertising guidance for registrants, along with its vision for equality, diversity and inclusion. All of this will help in signposting BAcC registrants as a top choice for people wishing to improve their health and wellbeing through receiving acupuncture.

Earlier this year we announced the running of a pilot, in collaboration with the Association of Child Psychotherapists, to test the rollout of higher-level disclosure and barring service (DBS) checks. As these checks are currently mainly undertaken by employers, this leaves a potential safeguarding gap for patients and service users seeking treatment from self-employed practitioners. The aim of the pilot was to see whether Accredited Registers could access this level of checks despite not being an employer. The results have been positive and consultation will take place in October 2022 on whether to roll the checks out more widely. Those of you who work in the NHS are no doubt seeing first-hand the pressures caused by workforce shortages, and we believe that the DBS check programme is well-placed to provide pragmatic and flexible solutions. For example, the registration of psychological practitioner roles as part of the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies programme with the British Psychological Society or the British Association for Behavioural & Cognitive Psychotherapies. Both organisations are in the final stages of their accreditation assessments.

A recent application from the Health Practice Associates Council (HPAC), which registers pre-emergency clinicians below the grade of paramedic, is also supported by the Care Quality Commission (CQC). The CQC have now written to providers, highlighting a ‘best practice’ approach to recruiting from the HPAC Register for relevant roles responsible for transporting patients receiving secure and mental health services. Our article published by NHS Employers also highlighted how the programme can help employers in the NHS to improve regulation and safety standards. We believe that the increase in NHS-related Accredited Registers will help raise the profile of accreditation. Greater awareness of our accreditation Quality Mark should benefit practitioners working both in the NHS, and privately. We are working with NHS colleagues to achieve such awareness, most recently with the publication of the article on the NHS Employers website, as well as with additional news and updates in NHS workforce newsletters and bulletins.