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10th
February 2009
Issue: 4
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RCCP Newsletter
Welcome to the fourth newsletter from the RCCP.
Our political campaign is going from strength to strength and the
newsletter will give you further details of how you can be more
involved. I hope you find it informative and helpful.
Below is an update on our political campaign, including the Executive
Committee going to Northern Ireland to meet with Members of the
Northern Ireland Assembly Health, Social Services and Public Safety
Committee and Joyce Cairns, Deputy Director of Human Resources at the
Department of Health, Social Services and Public Safety and lead on
professional regulation issues in Northern Ireland.
The RCCP response to the MSC next steps consultation is currently
being drafted and we will be keeping you updated on these important
proposals.
Please take the time to read this newsletter and, as always, please
let us know what you think.
Warm regards,
Anne Burge
Honorary Chair
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Discounts
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Don't forget to check all the special offers RCCP
registrants receive by looking at the discounts page on the website.
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Political
Campaign
The campaign for clinical physiologists to be statutory
regulated is going from strength to strength with several significant
developments this month including:
§
Regulation –Meetings
took place with Vanessa
Bourne, Head of Special Projects at the Patients Association, and Marc
Seale, Chief Executive of the Health Professions Council. Both these
meetings were successful with Vanessa Bourne sympathetic of our position
and Marc Seale continuing to offer his support to our cause.
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Northern Ireland
– Meetings took place earlier this month with Members of the Northern
Ireland Assembly Health, Social Services and Public Safety Committee and
Joyce Cairns, Deputy Director of Human Resources at the Department of
Health, Social Services and Public Safety and lead on professional
regulation issues in Northern Ireland. These meetings went well and have
helped advance our cause by raising awareness of the issue in Northern
Ireland. We will continue to keep members updated on all relevant
developments, but would encourage in particular colleagues in Northern
Ireland to make use of the local lobbying toolkit to contact their local
MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) to draw their attention to the
RCCP’s campaign on regulation. You can find the details of your MLA here.
Health is a devolved issue, meaning the Assembly is able to take
decisions on health, but we understand that the intention on professional
regulation is to proceed on a four-country basis. This means that highlighting
the issues and the potential impact on patient safety across the United
Kingdom is vital to our campaign.
§
Modernising Scientific
Careers – Following the publication of the Department of Health’s
next steps consultation document for Modernising Scientific Careers we
are in the process of drafting the RCCP response.
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Local Lobbying Toolkit
RCCP Chair, Anne Burge, recently met her local Member of
Parliament, Sylvia Heal MP, to update her on the RCCP’s position on
statutory regulation and its ongoing campaign. Following the meeting
Sylvia Heal MP wrote to the Minister of State for Health Services, Ben
Bradshaw MP, to bring the issue to his attention. The RCCP is delighted
by the level of uptake from registrants on the local lobbying toolkit and
would encourage those members who have not already done so to make
contact with their local MP. You can find a template letter and
advice on how to contact your MP in the attached document. We would be
grateful if registrants could please keep the RCCP updated on any contact
you have made with your MP.
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Meeting with Sue Hill
Unfortunately due to illness the meeting due to take place
with Prof. Sue Hill, Chief Scientific Officer at the Department of Health
on 21st January was postponed. We are in the process of
rearranging this meeting which will provide a further opportunity for the
RCCP to press the case that patient safety is unduly jeopardised as a
result of the Department’s delay in implementing statutory regulation for
clinical physiology.
Sue
Hill Letter
Ahead of
the cancelled meeting with Sue Hill we received a joint letter from
Professor Hill and Gavin Larner, Director of Professional Regulation,
which stated that the delay in statutory regulation of clinical
physiologists was due to the wider review of regulation which is
currently taking place as following the publication of The Regulation
of Health Professionals in the 21st Century White Paper. The
letter confirmed an agreement with the Department that a timetable for
the draft Section 60 Order which would put in place statutory regulation
would be published in March. We will be meeting with Prof Hill and
the Professional Regulation team shortly to further discuss this
issue.
Next Steps
The campaign continues in earnest with meetings to take
place with Parliamentarians and stakeholders in Scotland and Wales
throughout February and March. In Scotland, meetings have been agreed in
principle with the Labour
Shadow Minister for Public Health, Richard Simpson MSP,
and the Conservative Shadow Cabinet
Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, Mary Scanlon MSP. Given that the devolved
institutions have significant influence over the process of statutory
regulation in their areas, enlisting their support is vital for the RCCP.
The RCCP also continues to raise the issues on the floor
of the House of Commons and House of Lords and we will continue to
encourage our supporters to raise the issues with the relevant Health
Ministers.
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