Written answers

Thursday, 19 April 2018

Department of Health

Health and Social Care Professionals Regulation

Photo of John McGuinnessJohn McGuinness (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

252. To ask the Minister for Health if he is satisfied that the regulation process relative to speech and language therapists trained abroad that now wish to have their qualifications registered here is efficient and fit for purpose; and the number of applications pending and dealt with, respectively in each of the past three years. [17290/18]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

The Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 seeks to protect the public by providing a system of statutory registration for designated health and social care professions, including that of Speech and Language Therapist.

Statutory regulation is a system underpinned by law whereby each member of a profession is recognised by a specified body as competent to practice within that profession. As a legally binding process, with a mechanism for the prosecution of offences, it ensures a robust system that serves the dual function of protecting the public while ensuring that the good reputation of a profession is not called into question by the poor practices of an individual member.

CORU is the umbrella term used to describe the Health and Social Care Professionals Council, its committees and the registration boards established under the Act to regulate each individual designated profession. Its function is to protect the public by promoting high standards of professional conduct, education, training and competence through the statutory registration of the designated health and social care professions. T he recent decision to designate the professions of counsellors and psychotherapists under the Act will increase the number of regulated professions to 16 in total. CORU’s  register of speech and language therapists opened on 31 October 2014.

Professionals who apply for registration must demonstrate that they are fit and proper to practise in the profession, complete National Vetting Bureau e-vetting and international police clearance, verify that they agree to abide by their profession specific Code of Professional Conduct and Ethics, pay the application fee and hold an 'approved' qualification. To apply for registration, a professional must complete an online application form and provide all of the required supporting documentation.

An “approved qualification” is one that has been awarded on satisfactory completion of an education and training programme in the State approved by the relevant registration board; or a non-Irish qualification which has been deemed equivalent to the Irish qualification standard.

Such non-Irish qualifications are assessed under the mechanisms set out in Directive 2005/36/EC on the recognition of professional qualifications which provide for the assessment of an applicant’s formal training and post-qualification professional experience to determine if they meet the standard required to practise in the home member state (i.e. Ireland).  The same mechanism for recognition is also used by CORU Registration Boards for the assessment of non-Irish qualifications which are outside the scope of the Directive (i.e. all non EEA qualifications and the qualifications of non-EEA nationals).

This recognition process set out in the Directive requires the submission and assessment of documentation demonstrating each individual applicant’s formal training and post-qualification professional experience, and provides for the issuing of decisions within four months of the submission of a complete application.

I am satisfied that these processes of registration and qualification recognition provide a strong mechanism to protect the public by ensuring that only appropriately qualified professionals are registered and accordingly it is fit for purpose. I appreciate that the qualification recognition process may take time; however, the four month timeframe contained in the EU Directive is reasonable given the nature of the assessment required.

The numbers of applications received and completed for registration in the speech and language therapists register from 2014 to 2018 are as follows:

YearApplications received -Total 1,896Registrations completed - Total 1,823 
2014273
2015258149
20161,375737
2017199881
20183753

Comments

No comments

Log in or join to post a public comment.