Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Senator for raising this issue. Protection of the title is a core function of the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, known as CORU. When people access health services, it is vital that there is no ambiguity about the profession and competence of the health service provider they are attending. Statutory regulation of the profession is designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 and 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 are collectively known as CORU and are responsible for protecting the public by regulating 14 professions currently designated under the Act.

Regulation under the Act is primarily by way of statutory protection of professional titles by confining their use solely to persons granted registration. The Act provides for a two-year transitional or grand-parenting period from the date of the establishment of the register during which existing practitioners must register on the basis of specified qualifications. After this period, only registrants of the registration board, who are subject to the Act's regulatory regime, will be entitled to use the relevant protected title. The Physiotherapists Registration Board is finalising its drafting of the by-laws necessary for the establishment of its register early next year. This means that by early 2018 only registrants of the Physiotherapists Registration Board will be entitled to use the title of physiotherapist.

In other English-speaking countries, physiotherapists use the title of physical therapist interchangeably with that of physiotherapist. In Ireland, however, for the past 25 years or so and in the absence of State regulation and title protection, the title of physical therapist has been used by providers of musculoskeletal therapies in the private sector who are not physiotherapists.Some are highly qualified to degree level while others are not.

Concerns were raised that the use of the title "physical therapist" by practitioners who were not physiotherapists was causing confusion and could lead to patient safety risks. The concern is that doctors and their patients and people self-referring might view both titles as interchangeable and believe that they are being treated by qualified physiotherapists in all cases when they are not. The Irish Society of Chartered Physiotherapists, ISCP, has been seeking for some time to have the use of the title "physical therapist" protected for the exclusive use of registrants when the two-year transitional period ends.

Towards the end of last year and in accordance with the legislation, I consulted the Physiotherapists Registration Board about options for addressing this issue. Having considered the board's detailed response, I wrote to other interested organisations seeking their views on my proposal to make a regulation, to come into effect after an appropriate lead time, to protect the title of "physical therapist". Several submissions have been received and are being examined. I expect to be able to make a decision on the matter shortly. The key issue is to ensure public protection. I hope to be in a position to conclude this matter in the next few weeks.