Additional resources
Here are some further resources that outline the findings from our project.
In this resource [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] , we hear from Berry Rose (SWE), Dinah Godfree (PSA), Emma Willis (NMC), Paul Cummins (GPhC), David Dolan (GMC), Jessie Cunnett (The Point of Care Foundation and public advisor to the team), from our team Professor Rosalind Searle, and Richard West, a public member of the team with lived experience of involvement in fitness to practise proceedings.
Here is a is a blog for the Professional Standards Authority: ‘More compassion is needed in complaints handling’.
You can read more about our two dissemination events in London and Dundee.
You might be interested in viewing the following posters:
- How easy to read are social care and social work regulators’ Fitness to Practise web resources?
- Assessing the usability and accessibility of regulator websites for members of the public wishing to raise a concern
- A content analysis of UK social care regulator information for public witnesses in a fitness to practise heading
- A content analysis of professional regulator information for public witnesses in a fitness to practise hearing
- How easy is it to report concern about a doctor, nurse or someone giving you care? Does it help to have Easy Read leaflets? What we found …
- Witness to Harm-holding to account: Survey of harmed public referrers whose case closed prior to a hearing
- Employer support to witnesses: Professional regulatory (fitness to practise) proceedings
- How easy to read are regulators’ Fitness to Practice web resources?
Hear some witness experiences.
Read our research briefing document.
There are two animations for people involved in social care. The first is for service users of social care, which explains what fitness to practise is and what they can do to raise a concern with a regulator. The second is for social care and social work registrants, similarly, explaining what fitness to practise is and why it is important for registrants to understand it along with how and why to raise a concern with a regulator.
Transcript
SPEAKER 1: As a service user, I want to know how to raise a concern about a social work and care professional. How do I start? How difficult will it be? And who will investigate my concern?
SPEAKER 2: The process is called fitness to practise. Your concern will be investigated by a social work and social care regulator. Professionals have to register with regulators to practise their profession. It is a legal requirement.
SPEAKER 1: How many regulators are there?
SPEAKER 3: There are four social work and social care regulators in the UK. They are Scottish Social Services Council, Social Work England, Social Care Wales, and Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
SPEAKER 2: There are also nine health care regulators. You can find out who regulates the health care professionals on the Professional Standards Authority website.
SPEAKER 1: What can regulators investigate?
SPEAKER 3: There are many reasons regulators will investigate professionals, including misconduct, lack of competence, criminal convictions, and health conditions that affect service user safety.
SPEAKER 2: Also dishonesty, fraud, abuse of trust, violence, and sexual misconduct.
SPEAKER 3: There are many more examples.
SPEAKER 1: And what can’t regulators investigate?
SPEAKER 3: Regulators can’t deal with complaints about the level of service an organisation provides.
SPEAKER 2: They can’t get involved in matters which should be decided by a court, and they can’t provide legal advice.
SPEAKER 3: Again, there are many more examples. You can find out more on their websites.
SPEAKER 1: OK. So if I want to raise a concern about a professional, where do I start?
SPEAKER 2: You can go through their employer’s complaints process. This might be through their website or phone line.
SPEAKER 1: What if I want to raise a concern with a regulator?
SPEAKER 3: You can raise concerns using the regulator’s website or telephone support line.
SPEAKER 2: You can get help raising a concern from a social care worker, advocacy service, or citizens advice.
SPEAKER 1: And what happens once I raise a concern?
SPEAKER 3: They will confirm if they are legally able to take up the concern.
SPEAKER 2: Then the investigation can take some time, even years.
SPEAKER 3: The investigation is to decide if there is sufficient evidence to proceed. If there isn’t, the process stops there.
SPEAKER 2: If there is, the next stage would be the fitness to practise hearing to investigate if the professional in question is fit to practise in the future.
SPEAKER 3: You may need to provide a witness statement in writing or in person.
SPEAKER 2: In person, the professional’s lawyer will ask you about your witness statement, challenging your views on what happened.
SPEAKER 3: It can be hard work and upsetting, but it’s vital people raise concerns to ensure safety and quality of care.
SPEAKER 2: If the case is proven, the professional may have limits put on their practice or be taken off the register altogether, struck off, preventing them from practising again.
SPEAKER 3: Raising concerns like this and giving evidence in fitness to practise hearings is an important way to stop the same thing happening again to ensure all care users can trust their care providers.
Transcript
SPEAKER 1: As a social care professional, I’ve heard about fitness to practise, but I want to know how it’s relevant to me.
SPEAKER 2: Fitness to practise refers to the health, character, and competence of a professional to practise.
SPEAKER 3: As a social care professional, you will be a member with one of the social care regulators.
SPEAKER 2: They keep patients safe by ensuring professional standards are upheld and that their members are fit to practise.
SPEAKER 3: There are four social work and social care statutory regulators in the UK, they are-- Scottish Social Services Council, Social Work England, Social Care Wales, and Northern Ireland Social Care Council.
SPEAKER 2: There are also 9 health care regulators in the UK regulated by the Professional Standards Authority.
SPEAKER 1: What can regulators investigate?
SPEAKER 3: A range of concerns, from misconduct to lack of competence, to criminal convictions, and health conditions that might affect user safety.
SPEAKER 2: And many more.
SPEAKER 1: And what can’t regulators investigate?
SPEAKER 2: Regulators will tell you what they cannot regulate on their websites.
SPEAKER 3: For instance, they can’t deal with complaints about the level of service an organisation provides.
SPEAKER 2: They can’t get involved in matters which should be decided by a court. And they can’t provide legal advice.
SPEAKER 3: You’ll find many more examples on their websites.
SPEAKER 1: What are my responsibilities regarding fitness to practise as a social care professional?
SPEAKER 2: To practise as a social care professional, it’s a legal requirement that you register with them. Though each regulator is different, they all require that professionals promote professional standards and report concerns about other professionals or your own practice.
SPEAKER 3: This might include reporting harm, exploitation, inappropriate, unsafe, or discriminatory practices. It may include informing service users and families of their right to complain and providing them with relevant support.
SPEAKER 2: Plus cooperating with any investigations into your own fitness to practise.
SPEAKER 3: You can find out more on your regulator’s website.
SPEAKER 1: OK. How do I, or a service user, raise a concern about their social care?
SPEAKER 2: You can do this yourself or support the service user or their family to do so.
SPEAKER 3: You can raise your concern through both your employer, and regulator’s website, or telephone support line.
SPEAKER 1: What happens if I raise a concern?
SPEAKER 3: There will be an investigation by a regulator which can take a long time, even years.
SPEAKER 2: If the investigation finds sufficient evidence to proceed, there will be a fitness to practise hearing.
SPEAKER 3: The aim of the hearing is for the regulator to find out whether the professional fell seriously below the standards expected of them.
SPEAKER 2: You may need to provide a witness statement in writing or in person.
SPEAKER 3: The professional’s lawyer or union representative will ask you about your witness statement, challenging your views on what happened.
SPEAKER 2: You may need to provide evidence, including records of care or what you observed.
SPEAKER 3: This can be hard work and even upsetting for service users who may feel they’ve been harmed. But it’s vital people raise concerns to ensure safety and quality of care.
SPEAKER 2: If the case is proven, the professional may have limits put on their practice, or be taken off the register altogether, struck off, preventing them from practising again.
SPEAKER 3: Raising concerns and giving evidence in fitness to practise hearings helps to ensure the professional doesn’t do the same thing again.
SPEAKER 2: This ensures all care users can trust their care professionals.