Health and Care Professions Council

But it probably comes back to, like you say, the imposter syndrome, the, you know, what is everybody going to think? And everybody, you know, from the dietitian who used to sit next to me in the office to my dad, you know, everybody, what are they all going to think? But you're right.

It was, yeah, you did get people who were perhaps a little bit envious about what you were doing or, you know, are you all right saying that? Are you going to get struck off by the HCPC? And, you know, you're never going to say anything that's wrong or that's, you know, going to cause a problem because at the end of the day, we're professionals and we're going to do our research and we're going to make sure we're saying something.

what we want to say but the vast majority of people were just really really proud and you know celebrating our successes so yeah.

When you looked at like how many people shared your story as well it just showed that people were proud and they did want to celebrate you and get that story out there but I don't think it's all in the preparation and in the mindset of how you approach PR.

No one's told us.

The BPS, the HCPC, you know, they're still developing these guidelines and so it's still such early days.

I think the other part of it is the controversial side of AI, you know, the horror stories we hear in the news of how AI can make situations worse or, you know, very dangerous and used inappropriately.

And then there's the other part of it where there's this kind of implication that AI is doing your job for you.

... on about what that looks like.

[laughs] 20 lashes from the HCPC if they could even find a lash to hit us with, right? The, the, the, um...

So that's why I don't wanna go off on one about that.

We've both got into plenty skirmishes in that direction.

When it's the trade union for physiotherapists, then fundamentally one of the things it needs to do almost as a political lobby is then say, "More physios please." And by doing so, it has to imply on a political level that the, the macro number of physiotherapists in this country registered to practice is a unified and quality workforce that then can be targeting rehabilitation services across the country, and that you can create the infrastructure for it.

It can't simultaneously really seem to do the job of saying on the professional body side that this is how we make sure there's a competency floor, that then people actually then are aspiring and, and, and are measured somehow against any standard, right? And I don't mean like Jack and Adam's, uh, theory of the world.

I just mean, like, there'd be something beyond you actually ticking a box on getting a bachelor's once every day, and then you sign to the HCPC every now and again.

That's all that any of us are doing, and that's the best-kept secret of physiotherapy, which unfortunately the, many a medic are finding out these days, which is, uh, which is amusing 'cause we've been aspir- those with sense have been aspiring to something better.

And when you've done that, you've held on for probably about eight years.

You can apply to the HCPC, the Health and Care Professions Council, to become a registered occupational psychologist.

I think we are influencing people's working lives, people's livelihoods, their experiences of work.

I think it's important to be professionally registered and recognised and uphold those standards.

But that's a challenge to compare.

So, for example, you have an NREMT paramedic from the U.S. in the room, and next to him is an HCPC paramedic from the U.K. They're both competent, both registered, both licensed.

Which one is better?

And we don't get in the business of comparing better.

... about what that looks like.

[laughs] 20 lashes from the HCPC if they could even find a lash to hit us with, right? The, the, the, um...

So that's why I don't wanna go off on one about that.

We've both got into plenty skirmishes in that direction.

When it's the trade union for physiotherapists, then fundamentally one of the things it needs to do almost as a political lobby is then say, "More physios, please." And by doing so, it has to imply on a political level that the, the macro number of physiotherapists in this country registered to practice is a unified and quality workforce that then can be targeting rehabilitation services across the country, and that you can create the infrastructure for it.

It can't simultaneously really seem to do the job of saying on the professional body side that this is how we make sure there's a competency floor, that then people actually then are aspiring and, and, and are, are measured somehow against any standard, right? And I don't mean like Jack and Adam's, uh, theory of the world.

I just mean, like, there'd be something beyond you actually ticking a box on getting a bachelor's once every day, and then you sign to the HCPC every now and again.

That's all that any of us are doing, and that's the best-kept secret of physiotherapy, which unfortunately the, many a medic are finding out these days, which is, uh, which is amusing 'cause we've been aspir- those with sense have been aspiring to something better.

So I want you all to step back and look at yourselves as you are as occupational therapists.

As an OT, you hold your license as a practitioner of the craft of OT, which means you are registered to HCPC, you are accountable and you hold your own responsibility.

And as an individual practitioner, your role is very simple.

It's to assess and establish what is wrong with your clients, to find out the concerns that are relevant to you as an occupational therapist.

Absolutely, and I should have said probably that you specialise in supporting people going through fitness to practice proceedings.

Now something that people might not be aware of is that there are still fitness to practice proceedings going on and kind of standards that you need to maintain even before you become professionally regulated with the HCPC.

And so what we're finding is that people that are trainee clinical psychologists or trainee paramedics or whatever are coming up against fitness to practice proceedings and then finding, oh, I kind of, fit in the middle of everything.

So I'm not yet under HCPC.

You know, I don't necessarily feel like the uni are on my side, maybe my placement supervisors are maybe not on my side and they're feeling really quite unsupported.

So what we're kind of looking to do is have a broad conversation around pre-qualified fitness to practice proceedings today, aren't we, Nicholas?

I guess it's a really interesting area where people... are really in a sort of grey zone where they don't have all the the regulatory support that that you have when you're when you're with an institution for example the hcpc you feel like you're you're in limbo a little bit so you you're actually entitled to um support from the university um and at the same time they are regulating and making sure that they they adequately prepare professionals as they move forward fdp process applies to both pre-regulated and regulated practitioners

yeah okay but the hcpc aren't there for you until you're regulated which puts you in a i think a tricky position yeah

So I still regard myself as a psychologist.

I'm still registered with the Health and Care Professions Council.

I still practice as a psychologist.

I'm not employed by a university now.