As the Deputy will be aware, CORU is Ireland’s multi-profession health and social care regulator. Seventeen health and social care professions are designated for regulation by CORU under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005. There are currently registers open for eleven professions and CORU is continuing the substantial work required to open the registers for the remaining professions.
A number of representative bodies for unregulated professions have approached the Department seeking to be regulated. It is important in this context to point out the issues to be considered regarding the proportionate degree of regulatory force required to protect the public are complex.
In light of this, and in line with ongoing work in the Department of Health, the Health Research Board was requested to carry out research on behalf of the Department to assist in policy development in this area. The report, “National Approaches to Regulating Health and Social Care Professions”, examines the approaches to the regulation of health and social care professionals internationally and is publicly available on the Department’s website
(www.gov.ie/en/publication/ea62b-national-approaches-to-regulating-health-and-social-care-professions/).
Officials here in the Department of Health are in the process of drawing from this report and other relevant sources to develop a framework to guide policy on the regulation of health and social care professionals into the future. This framework will also be informed by an evidence and risk-based approach to regulation in line with requirements set out in the EU Proportionality Test Directive, which was transposed into Irish law on 19 August 2022 (S.I. No. 413/2022). Further information on the Proportionality Test Directive can be found here: single-market-economy.ec.europa.eu/news/services-directive-handbookproportionality-test-directive-guidance-2022-12-22_en
Officials in the Department met with representatives of the professional body for athletic therapy on 15 February 2023 to discuss their concerns around regulation. Work to develop a policy framework to guide policy on the regulation of health and social care professionals is ongoing. There are no plans in place to progress regulation of individual professions until appropriate risk-assessment and evaluation tools are in place in compliance with best practice, international evidence and the Proportionality Test Directive. Furthermore, there is no indication that such regulation, should it be deemed appropriate, will be delivered in tranches of ten professions.
I hope this information is of assistance.
