Debate on regulation has been welcomed by the General Optical Council after a report by the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) found the regulatory framework for health and social care needed ‘radical change’.
A PSA report called Rethinking Regulation found the current framework was ‘out of date, over-complicated and too expensive’.
It called for redesign of regulation in order to deal with pressure on the health and care sector, pointing out that current expectations were distracting professionals.
Harry Cayton, chief executive of the PSA, said: ‘Piecemeal adjustments to health and care regulation have, over time, made the system cumbersome, ineffective and expensive. Every part of our health and care system is changing in order to meet future needs. If patients are to benefit, regulation must undergo radical change too.
‘Regulation is asked to do too much - and to do things it should not do. We need to understand that we cannot regulate risk out of healthcare and to use regulation only where we have evidence that it actually works. Ironically, the regulations that are meant to protect patients and service users are distracting professionals from this very task.’
Among the recommendations it made were for a rebuilding of trust between professionals, the public and regulators, a reduced scope of regulation and to place real responsibility where it lies with the people who manage and deliver care.
The GOC responded to the report saying it had already been pushing for reform.
GOC chief executive and registrar Samantha Peters said: ‘The PSA’s report raises some very important issues about the future of healthcare regulation, and we encourage others to join a wider debate on this. It is essential we properly and comprehensively consider the best ways in which to approach the future of regulation, and the PSA’s report is a welcome step forward in initiating this conversation.
‘We have already been pushing for legislative change in the shape of the Law Commissions’ Bill and were disappointed that this was not included in the Queen’s Speech. We are keen to see changes to the current legal framework to enable us and other regulators to enhance our role in public protection, and we welcome the opportunity to debate this further.’
It transpired during the rollout of the GOC’s new standards for practice last week that the regular would need legislative change to ensure the registration of all optical business or to omit students from its registers.