Billy Kelleher (Cork North Central, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Fianna Fáil will support this Bill which makes minor technical amendments to the relevant Act and will facilitate the implementation of the decision to protect the title of "physical therapist". These decisions were taken following a consultation process and were welcomed by the professional bodies involved.

The Bill will amend certain provisions of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to: address identified gaps in the provisions relating to the appointment of professional members to the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and to registration boards; permit a registration board to apply training and education conditions to applicants for registration who have not yet practised their profession, an important point to which the Minister alluded; and provide further conditions for the registration of physiotherapists-physical therapists in the register of physiotherapists.

There are some gaps in the principal Act and these are being addressed. With regard to membership of CORU and its registration boards, the Bill proposes technical amendments to enable ministerial appointments of professional members of newly designated professions to CORU.

A related amendment proposed in the Bill is to allow the ministerial appointment of professional members to fill casual vacancies where the relevant registration board has not yet been established or has been established but has not yet conducted an election of its members. A further technical amendment proposed will, if enacted, enable the appointment of professional members to registration boards during their two-year transitional period following first establishment. The Bill proposes to amend the Act to allow registration for applicants who are qualified but who have not yet practiced their profession for a specified period of time.

A protected title is the professional title of the designated health and social care professions named under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. A registrant of a profession is entitled to use the title specified for that profession.

The issue of protection of the title of "physical therapist" as a variant of the title of "physiotherapist" relates in the main to confusion, among the public and other health and social care professionals, regarding the similarities and differences in the role of physiotherapists and physical therapists. Even that contribution is confusing in itself but it highlights the difficulties that both the professional and the public have in understanding the differences.

The Bill proposes to protect both titles under the one prescribed protected title of "physiotherapist" in order to eliminate the ongoing risk of title confusion and the consequent risks to public safety. There have been many debates over the years in this House on the question of registration. The key issue is the protection of the public to ensure it can have full confidence in the various professions, how they are governed and how the operate in terms of oversight.

Physiotherapists primarily work in the public sector and are trained to provide the following therapies: musculoskeletal therapies, cardio-respiratory therapies and neurological therapies. In Ireland, physical therapists mostly work in the private sector and are trained to provide musculoskeletal therapies solely and have been educated in different higher education institution than those that provide qualifications for physiotherapists. Confusion has arisen as physiotherapists often use a title of "physical therapist" interchangeably with that of "physiotherapist". The Physiotherapists Registration Board estimates that in Ireland currently, approximately 300 people are practising as physical therapists and over 3,000 are practising as physiotherapists.

Several developments have lead to the decisions as provided for in the Bill. These revolve around the consultation process with stakeholders in respect of three options. The title of "physical therapist" should be protected for the sole use of physiotherapists in the interests of public safety and avoidance of confusion.

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