Gareth Hadley seeks to reassure registrants in his letter of June 26 and we are delighted to hear that the GOC has had a good response to its consultation on the proposed new standards; we are pleased that the GOC will listen carefully to what its registrants and other stakeholders say to ensure the new standards are proportionate.
We are also pleased that Mr Hadley agrees with the AOP on two major areas of concern: the lack, as yet, of new standards for businesses and the inappropriateness of registration (and therefore GOC regulation) for students.
Currently the Codes of Conduct for registrants apply different standards to individuals and to businesses. So it is not right to say that business registrants ‘must not’ prevent an individual from following GOC standards or exercising their professional judgement. They must only take whatever steps they consider ‘reasonable and proportionate’.
If, as Mr Hadley suggests, the public need fear nothing because the businesses already have adequate standards to provide public safety the same must apply to individual registrants. Therefore logic would dictate that new standards for all registrants should be introduced at the same time, so that all are treated equally and public safety is ensured consistently.
We look forward to the outcome of the consultation and request that in light of the level of response an opportunity is given for further consultation on the redrafted standards.
Henrietta Alderman,
Chief Executive, AOP