Facts and benefits about your HCPC registration

There are over twelve thousand chiropodists/podiatrists registered with the Health & Care Professions Council (HCPC). But who are the HCPC? why does your registration matter? and how is your chiropodist/podiatrist title protected by law?

The HCPC regulates health and care professionals in the UK via a register, and was set up with the sole intention of protecting the public.

The HCPC only register professionals who meet certain standards. Such professionals must meet these standards for their training, professional skills and behaviour.

As a HCPC registered chiropodist/podiatrist, you must continue to meet these standards. This not only reassures the public that their health and care professional is genuine, but that they, as service users, are protected should any professional fail to meet those standards. The HCPC can take action against professionals who fall below these standards which might include stopping them from practice.

Anyone using a title protected in law – in this case ‘chiropodist’ or ‘podiatrist’ – must be registered with HCPC. Misuse of a protected title is a criminal offence, and anyone claiming to be registered with the HCPC who is not is also illegal. The HCPC will prosecute people who commit these crimes.

The key benefits of your HCPC registration:

To demonstrate that you continue to meet the standards of proficiency for your profession.
To provide an assurance that you meet national standards for your training, professional skills, behaviour and health.
To differentiate you from non-regulated professionals.
To reassure service users that you, as a health and care professional, are genuine.

Promoting your registration

As a HCPC-registered professional you can display the HCPC registered logo as a clear sign that you meet our standards. It provides reassurance and differentiates you from non-regulated professionals. This logo is available for registrants to download from the HCPC website or here http://www.hcpc-uk.org/registrants/promoting/logo/

Resources

The HCPC has devised a number of resources to support you in promoting your HCPC registration. You can encourage service users and employers to check your registration online at www.checktheregister.org or www.hcpc-uk.org

Free public information posters and leaflets

The HCPC produce public-facing information as part of their ongoing campaign to raise their profile and the importance of using a registered health and care professional.

The printed information explains the importance of using a registered health and care professional. You can request your free of charge material here http://www.hcpc-uk.org/publications/pip-form.asp

Continuing support for registrants

The HCPC website is a key information source, its registrant pages offering useful links to the latest news, renewing your registration, income tax relief on registration fees, continuing professional development, and access to a personal online account. They also have a strong presence on social media such as YouTube where you will find informative clips on issues like; presenting fitness to practise guidance, advice on registration renewal and CPD.

What happens if I am audited?

If you are chosen for audit, the HCPC will send you a CPD profile request with your renewal letter. The profile needs to be completed and returned by your renewal deadline date.

The main parts of your CPD profile will be:

a summary of your practice history for the last two years (up to 500 words)

a statement of how you have met our standards of CPD (up to 1500 words) and

evidence from your portfolio to support your statement

A dated list of all the CPD activities undertaken during the 2-year audit period.

Your summary should describe your role and the type of work you do as well as your main responsibilities, any specialist areas you work in and the people you communicate and work with most.

Your statement should concentrate on how you meet the CPD standards, particularly 3 and 4 – how your CPD activities improve the quality of your work and the benefits to service users.

The HCPC will require evidence to back up your personal statement. It should show that you have undertaken the CPD activities you have referred to, and should also show how they have improved the quality of your work and benefited service users. You do not need to send in the full record of all your CPD activities. If you are chosen for audit, you need to look through your entire record of CPD activities and consider which best show how you have met the standards.

How will they assess your profile?

Your profile will be assessed by fully trained CPD assessors, at least one of whom will be from the same profession as you. They will assess your profile against the standards and will then inform the HCPC if your CPD meets these standards.

What happens next?

There are three possible outcomes once your profile has been assessed.

Your profile meets the standards

More information is needed

Your profile does not meet the standards.

If your profile meets the standards you will stay on the Register.

If more information is required, you will be contacted about what information is required and you will stay on the Register while you are sending more information for assessment.

If your profile does not meet the standards, you may be offered an extra three months to meet the standards of CPD or your registration will end. For example, if you meet several of the standards the CPD assessors may recommend that you are given three months to meet the remaining standards, however, if you have not met any of the standards the assessor may think it is unlikely that you would be able to do so in three months and would recommend that your registration ends.

If the HCPC think that your CPD profile does not meet the standards they may decide that to take you off the register, you can appeal against this decision.

It’s important to note that you will not be ‘struck off’ the Register – your registration will simply not be renewed. You will be able to continue to practise up until the end of the appeal process if you fail to meet the CPD standards.

Personal details

It is extremely important that you keep the HCPC informed of your address. If they do not have your most recent details, they will not be able to contact you and you will not be able to renew your registration.

Further information

The HCPC has published information about the CPD audit process and what is required of registrants in two booklets: a short guide entitled “Your guide to our standards for continuing professional development” and a longer more detailed guide “Continuing professional development and your registration”. Both booklets are available on the HCPC website or on request. There is also detailed information along with examples of profiles for each of the professions, the assessment criteria and the type of evidence the HCPC will accept on their website. You can find this information at http://www.hcpc-uk.org/registrants/cpd/

10 top tips for completing your CPD profile

During the annual registration renewal period a random sample of 2.5 per cent of the profession will be selected to submit a continuing professional development (CPD) profile. Those selected for audit will receive a separate letter after the renewal notices are sent out.

If you’re selected to participate in the CPD audit, there is a range of guidance and information available on the HCPC website, including sample profiles, activity types and video guides.

Alternatively, follow our ten top tips for completing your profile.

Include a dated list of your professional development activities within the audit period – the last two years of registration. If you have any gaps of three months or more, they will need to be explained.
Don’t just describe your day-to-day work. Choose a range of different activities you have undertaken over the past two years (between four and six in total) and describe what you learned from each.
Provide good evidence for each of the activities. Reflective logs, case studies, presentations, certificates and feedback from your service users would all be relevant.
Remember, it is about quality not quantity – choose evidence which shows how you think you have met the standards.
Ensure confidentiality when including your evidence – make sure that none of your evidence or your statement includes references to named individuals.
Make sure that the evidence you send will back up the statements made in your profile. It should show that you have undertaken the activities you have referred to, and should also show how they have improved the quality of your work and benefited service users.
Be concise, but provide sufficient detail on how your learning activities had an impact on your service, and be clear about how each standard has been met.
Keep a personal log of your continuing professional development, so that if you move jobs or your circumstances change you will still have access to it.
Don’t forget that the summary of your practice history should help to show the assessors how your development activities are linked to your work.
The council’s approach to assessing professional development focuses on the outcome of your activities – how they have benefited you and your service users, not how many hours or points you have. It’s up to you, along with your manager, to think about what you need to do to keep up to date in your area of practice. For more information and advice for completing your CPD profile, visit
http://www.hcpc-uk.org/registrants/cpd/

anyone audited please contact Head Office on 01704 546141 or by email info@iop-uk.org for further assistance and advice, you don’t need to go through the audit alone