Ms Alessandra Fantini:

I thank the committee for the opportunity to address it on the draft regulations to be made by the Minister for Health to protect the title of "chiropodist" as a variant of "podiatrist".

The Houses of the Oireachtas are being asked to approve the following regulations in draft: Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (Section 95(3)) (Variation of Title: Chiropodist) Regulations 2022. These regulations are being made pursuant to the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. The Act provides for the protection of the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct, education, training and competence through statutory registration of the health and social care professionals designated under the Act. Regulation under the Act is primarily by way of registration of practitioners and the statutory protection of professional titles. The use of protected titles is restricted to practitioners granted registration under the Act. Registrants must comply with a code of professional conduct and ethics and are subject to fitness to practise rules similar to those applying to nurses, midwives and doctors. The structure of the system of statutory regulation comprises registration boards for the professions, a committee structure to deal with disciplinary matters, and the Health and Social Care Professionals Council with overall responsibility for the regulatory system. These bodies and the executive are collectively known as CORU. The Act prohibits a person whose name is not on the register from using the title of a designated profession and provides that CORU may initiate a criminal prosecution summarily to enforce the prohibition on a designated title's misuse.

When the podiatrists' register completes its two-year transitional period on 31 March 2023, the title of "podiatrist" will be protected. The Podiatrists Registration Board contacted the Department in 2019 requesting that the title of "chiropodist" also be protected as a variant of podiatrist. The registration board's view is that the public cannot be adequately protected without protection of this title. In its correspondence to the Department, the registration board set out a number of reasons for its view. It stated that many members of the public, particularly the older generation, still use the title "chiropodist", and it is concerned that some of those who will choose to use that title may not have the correct skills to treat patients. If the title "chiropodist" is not protected in the State, there will be practitioners who may take advantage of this and choose not to register with the regulator but continue to use the title.

The registration board highlighted that the HSE still uses the title chiropodist for some of its podiatric staff and grading system. Therefore, the terms continue to be used interchangeably even in the professional field. This only adds to the likelihood that the public could unwittingly use the services of an unqualified professional. The fact that a high percentage of these professionals are in private practice raises the risk to the public in this regard. In short, if the title of chiropodist remains unprotected then those practitioners who do not want to submit to the oversight of a regulator could legally continue to practise using the title and the public could unwittingly continue to use their services. The Health and Social Care Professionals Council would have no powers to initiate a prosecution against the practitioners.

The Department sought the view of one of the main professional bodies - the Society of Chiropodists and Podiatrists. The society welcomed the protection of the title chiropodist as a variant of podiatrist and agreed that the two titles are used interchangeably by the public. It highlighted that the term chiropodist is the original term but the English-speaking world has moved towards the term "podiatry" in the recent past. The view of the professional regulation unit is, therefore, that the variant title of "chiropodist" should be prescribed in order to protect the public and ensure that its use is restricted to qualified professionals registered with the Podiatrists Registration Board.

Section 95(3) of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 provides that the Minister for Health "After consulting the registration board of any designated profession ... and any organisations that he or she considers appropriate, the Minister may, by regulation, prescribe one or more than one title that is a variant of the title specified in that section for the profession".

Section 95(7) provides that:

A regulation may be made under subsection (3)only if— (a) a draft of the proposed regulation has been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas, and

(b) a resolution approving the draft has been passed by each House.

The Podiatrists Registration Board opened its register on 31 March 2021 and the transitional period for existing practitioners to register will end on 31 March 2023. Once the transitional period ends the title "podiatrist" will become a protected title. Subject to the approval of the Houses, it is proposed that these regulations will come into effect as soon as possible, which will allow the title "chiropodist" to be protected as soon as the transitional period ends.

I thank everyone for their attention and I am happy to take questions.