James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I am pleased to introduce the Health and Social Care Professionals (Amendment) Bill 2012 for the consideration of the House. The Bill is a relatively short technical Bill, with 20 sections in total that was passed by Dáil Éireann without amendment on 29 November last. The Bill proposes to amend the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 to provide for the enhanced and effective functioning of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council and the registration boards established under the Act. It will also amend the Act to better provide for the assessment and recognition in Ireland of qualifications obtained outside the State and to ensure compliance with the relevant EU instrument.

The 2005 Act provides for the establishment of a system of statutory regulation for designated health and social care professions. The regulatory system comprises a registration board for each of 12 designated professions, a Health and Social Care Professionals Council with overall responsibility for the regulatory system and a committee structure to deal with disciplinary matters. These bodies are collectively known informally as CORU. CORU is responsible for protecting the public by regulating health and social care professionals in Ireland. It promotes high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence among the registrants. The Health and Social Care Professionals Council was established in 2007. Its functions include the governance and co-ordination of registration boards and the provision of administrative support and secretarial assistance to registration boards and their committees. Although the annual cost of running the council is being funded by the Exchequer in the main at present, the intention is that the regulatory system will, in time, be fully self-funding through the annual fees payable by registrants, as is the case with all other health professional regulators, such as the Medical Council, An Bord Altranais, etc.

At present, the following 12 health and social care professions are designated under the Act, namely, clinical biochemists, dietitians, medical scientists, occupational therapists, orthoptists, physiotherapists, podiatrists, psychologists, radiographers, social care workers, social workers and speech and language therapists. In addition, the decision of the previous Government to rationalise the Opticians Board into the Health and Social Care Professionals Council will see another two professions, optometrists and dispensing opticians, being regulated under the Act in 2013. Under the Act, I, as Minister for Health, may designate other health and social care professions if I consider that it is in the public interest to do so and if the specified criteria have been met.

I am aware that some professions, currently not designated, have made a case to be regulated under the Act. While my immediate priority is to proceed with the establishment of the registration boards for the professions currently designated under the 2005 legislation, I have undertaken to commence the necessary steps to bring counsellors and psychotherapists within the ambit of the Act as a matter of urgency. I have given this commitment following the valuable and thoughtful contributions made during the passage of the Bill through Dáil Éireann.

The lack of regulation in the area of counselling in particular is a matter of concern. There are a number of issues still to be clarified however. These include decisions on whether one or two professions are regulated, on the title or titles of the profession or professions, and on the minimum qualifications to be required of counsellors and psychotherapists. A report from Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, is due next year and will establish standards of knowledge, skills and competence to be acquired by students of counselling and psychotherapy. In addition, an examination will be undertaken on the standard of qualifications currently held by counselling and psychotherapy practitioners seeking regulation. The culmination of this work will be a big milestone towards the regulation of counsellors and psychotherapists.

To date, five registration boards have been established. These registration boards are for the professions of social worker, radiographer, dietitian, occupational therapist and speech and language therapist. It is my intention to proceed to establish a further six registration boards in 2013. The Social Workers Registration Board has established its register, has held elections and has made the necessary by-laws on education and training qualifications. The board has also adopted a code of professional conduct and ethics which was subject to public consultation. When the statutory transitional period ends two years after the establishment of the register next May, the profession of social worker will be fully regulated under the Act. The Radiographers Registration Board will soon be in a position to open its register and commence its two-year transitional period. That will also facilitate the commencement of the fitness to practise provisions of the Act.

The Act provides for grandparenting - a transitional period of two years during which existing practitioners must register on the basis of current specified qualifications. After that, only registrants of a registration board, who will be subject to the Act's regulatory regime, will be entitled to use the relevant designated title.

The Bill has three main purposes. The first is to amend the Act to allow the Minister for Health to continue to appoint professional members to the council until each of the registration boards has been established in respect of the 12 professions designated under the Act, has held elections, and is in a position to nominate one of their elected members. The second is to incorporate the provisions of Directive 2005/3 6/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications into the principal Act and to provide for the assessment and recognition of other non-Irish qualifications which are outside the scope of the directive. Third, and in order to enhance the effective operation of the council and the registration boards, other amendments are proposed which relate to items such as fees payable to members of the council, registration criteria and the updating of fines for offences under the Act.

I wish to briefly explain the technical difficulty that has arisen with the appointment of professional members to the council. The Act provides that the council consists of a chairperson and 24 ordinary members, with each of the 12 registration boards nominating one of their elected members for appointment. As is usual in such cases, for the first term, the Act also empowers the Minister for Health to directly appoint 12 professional representative members since no registration board would have been established. The phased establishment of the 12 registration boards and the resulting lapse of time have meant however that, in the absence of registration boards which can then nominate council members, professional representative members cannot be appointed to the council to fill the vacancies arising from the completion of the terms of office of the original members.

Currently, 12 professional members are attending council meetings in an observer capacity, with my consent, so that the perspective of the professionals can be maintained. This is an interim measure only and those attending do not have voting powers and cannot fulfil the requirements for a quorum. The Bill therefore proposes an amendment to the Act to allow the Minister for Health to continue to appoint professional members to the council until such time as the registration boards have been established, have held elections and are in a position to nominate elected members for appointment to the council.

The Bill also takes account of the provisions of Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications, which was enacted after the enactment of the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. This directive is an Internal Market measure aimed at facilitating the free movement of persons within the European Economic Area, EEA. While health professionals are the largest single professional category availing of its provisions, the directive applies to any regulated profession. The Department of Education and Skills, in light of its role in qualifications, has overall responsibility for the directive in Ireland.

Senators may be aware that discussions are taking place at European Union level to modernise Directive 2005/36/EC. These are expected to conclude during the Irish Presidency. In the meantime, it is necessary to give effect to certain aspects of the current directive in this Bill.

The directive makes it easier for qualified professionals, including certain health and social care professionals, to practise their professions in European countries other than their own, while providing appropriate safeguards to ensure public health and safety and consumer protection. This means that applicants' qualifications and post-qualification work experience are assessed to ensure they meet the qualification entry requirements to the profession in question in Ireland. As qualification recognition is the first step in a statutory registration process, it was always the policy intention that the registration boards would assume responsibility for the qualification recognition function under this directive. The Bill, therefore, provides that each registration board will be designated as competent authority under Directive 2005/36/EC for its designated profession.

The Minister for Health is the competent authority for most of the health professions designated under the Act and qualification recognition is for the purpose of eligibility for recruitment to the publicly-funded health sector. The introduction of statutory registration will mean all persons with non-Irish professional qualifications who seek to exercise their profession in Ireland must have their non-Irish qualification recognised under the directive.

The amendments contained in the Bill will also provide a legal basis for the assessment and recognition of qualifications obtained outside the State which are outside the scope of the directive, namely, the non-EEA qualifications of EEA nationals and the qualifications of non-EEA nationals. The Bill provides that the processes for the assessment of these qualifications are the same as provided for in Directive 2005/36/EC, including the provision of explicit appeal mechanisms.

The main provisions of the Bill can be summarised as follows. Section 1 sets out that the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 is the principal Act and section 2 inserts a number of definitions into the principal Act. Section 3 will allow the Minister for Health to continue to appoint representatives of the designated professions to the council until such time as all registration boards are established and in a position to nominate elected members. Section 4 will provide a legal basis, when the council is self-funding, for payments to members of the council and its disciplinary - fitness to practise - committees, subject to the approval of the Minister for Health and with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform.

Section 6 will permit each registration board to prescribe certain practice and training requirements for professionals who have not practised for a designated period. Sections 11 and 13 will increase the maximum fines for offences committed under the principal Act. Sections 15 and 16 will provide for some changes in relation to "grandparenting" and in respect of the use of professional titles during the transitional period in which practising professionals may apply for registration. Sections 17 and 18 will allow the Minister to have the power to appoint members of the council and registration boards for a period of up to four years, rather than the current fixed term of four years.

Amendments are also proposed to sections 5 to 10, inclusive, and 14 and 15, of the principal Act to provide for the assessment and recognition in Ireland of qualifications obtained outside the State. Section 5 inserts a new section 27A to provide that when their registers have been established registration boards will be designated as competent authorities under Directive 2005/36/EC, empowered to act as competent authorities for their designated professions under Directive 2005/36/EC and empowered to assess qualifications obtained outside the State which are outside the scope of the directive. This section also provides for necessary transition arrangements for applications under the directive.

Section 6 amends section 31 to provide that a registration board may make by-laws relating to procedures for the assessment of professional qualifications, training, experience, aptitude tests or adaptation periods of applicants for registration whose professional qualifications have been obtained outside the State and are outside the scope of the directive.

Section 7 amends section 38 to update and simplify the approved qualifications criteria in section 38(2) so that there are three categories - Irish qualifications, qualifications approved under Directive 2005/36/EC and other qualifications - and to insert new definitions and remove others no longer necessary. Sections 8, 9 and 10 relate to procedures and appeals for non-Irish qualifications. Section 12 relates to the use of title in the provision of services on a temporary and occasional basis. Sections 14 and 15 amend the registration process for existing practitioners to comply with the processes of Directive 2005/36/EC which provide for the assessment of formal professional training and post-qualification professional experience. Finally, section 19 provides a minor clarifying amendment to the list of optional qualifications required by an existing practitioner radiographer in order to register during the transitional period.

In conclusion, this Bill will enable the Health and Social Care Professionals Council to continue to fulfil in a more effective way its object to protect the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct and professional education, training and competence among registrants of the designated professions. I thank the House for its attention and commend the Bill to it.