CEO to leave Failing Regulator

The news that the well-liked Chief Executive of the Health and Care Professions Council, John Barwick, is to leave his post at the end of 2022 after only three years in office, was hidden on the Council’s website under the heading Continuing our improvement journey: A statement from the Chair of the HCPC.

Covering around 300,000 professionals from different healthcare groups, the HCPC is another healthcare regulator struggling to cope efficiently in a system which is in dire need of reform.

In her recent message, Christine Elliott, the Council’s Chair bravely wrote of the progress that has been made whilst recognising there was more to be done if the organisation were to be the truly customer-focused, highly efficient regulator it wants to be.  She prefaced the news of the Chief Executive’s departure with the words: “As we embark on the next phase of our improvement journey, we are making a number of changes to our leadership structures that will enable us to go further and faster.”

In its last Performance Review undertaken by the Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA), the HCPC met only 13 of 18 standards, crucially failing four of the five fitness to practise standards.

Those standards failed were No 15: the regulator’s process for examining and investigating cases is fair and proportionate and deals with cases as quickly as is consistent with a fair resolution of the case; No 16: the regulator ensures that all decisions are made in accordance with its processes, are proportionate, consistent and fair; No 17: the regulator identifies and prioritises cases which suggest a serious risk to safety of patients or service users and seeks interim orders where appropriate; No 18: all parties to a complaint are supported to participate effectively in the process.

In its report the PSA observed that it had reported its concerns about the HCPC’s performance against fitness to practise standards for a number of years. Although it had undertaken some activity to improve the age profile of its case load, the data seen suggested that the number of open cases over 52 weeks had steadily increased during the review period.

Although the PSA had seen some evidence of improvement overall, it was not at that stage able to comment on the effectiveness of the projects undertaken and fully assess whether those initiatives had led to improved performance. Next year it will assess in detail the impact of the HCPC improvement programme to see how this has affected performance in fitness to practise.

Announcing that Andrew Smith, Executive Director of Regulation, is appointed as interim Deputy CEO, Christine Elliott concludes with this resounding declaration: “Efficiency Starts at the top. To ensure that the HCPC’s leadership is well-run, efficient and co-ordinated, we are establishing a new Office of the Chief Executive and Chair. This will not only ensure smooth and effective working between the Chair and the Chief Executive, it will also deliver a more joined-up approach between the Executive and the Council.”

In the interests of public protection and the mental health of practitioners under investigation who suffer the anguish of lengthy enquiry into their cases, we can only hope for rapid improvement.  If not, the Chair has made it clear where the buck stops.