HPC receives legislative approval to regulate private sector hearing aid dispensers

11/02/2010

HPC set to regulate hearing aid dispensers

On the 10 February 2010 the Privy Council signed off the necessary legislation to transfer the regulation of hearing aid dispensers from the Hearing Aid Council (HAC) to the Health Professions Council (HPC).

The draft Order ‘The Health Professions (Hearing Aid Dispensers) Order 2009’ was laid before each house of Parliament under section 62 (9) of the Health Act 1999, for approval. The Order was successfully approved by Parliament before being passed to the Privy Council for final approval.

The Order sets out, among other things, that the HPC shall enter into arrangements with the Hearing Aid Council to facilitate statutory regulation by the HPC of private sector hearing aid dispensers throughout the UK.

Now that the Order has been approved by Parliament, 1 April 2010 is the set date that the HPC will open its Register for this profession. Hearing aid dispensers from the Hearing Aid Council (HAC) will automatically transfer to the HPC’s Register on this date as defined in the Order.
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HPC’s Chief Executive and Registrar, Marc Seale, said:

“We are looking forward to regulating hearing aid dispensers, the HPC is experienced at taking on professions and integrating them on to our Register. We continue to work in collaboration with the HAC and stakeholders from this profession and we are confident it will be a smooth transition”.

In 2005, the Government announced that the HAC was to be abolished and its registration and regulation functions transferred to the Health Professions Council (HPC). Following on from the Hampton Review, this change will strengthen protection for consumers, reduce costs for the industry and remove barriers between the public and private sectors. The HAC will be the first statutory regulator absorbed by the HPC.

-ENDS-

Notes to editors:
1. For further information about routes to registration please see the HPC website www.hpc-uk.org/apply/

2. The Health Professions Council is an independent, UK-wide health regulator set up by the Health Professions Order (2001). The HPC keeps a register for fourteen different health professions and only registers people who meet the standards it sets for their training, professional skills, behaviour and health. The HPC will take action against people who do not meet these standards or who use a protected title illegally.

3.  The HAC is an independent, statutory regulator set up by the Hearing Aid Council act (1968, as amended) to register dispensers and their employers working in the private hearing aid sector. It sets the standards of education, training, conduct and performance dispensers must meet join the register and investigates any alleged breaches of those standards. There are around 1500 hearing aid dispensers on the HAC register.

4. HPC currently regulates the following 14 professions. Each of these professions has one or more ‘protected titles’. Anyone who uses one of these titles must register with the HPC. To see the full list of protected titles please see: www.hpc-uk.org/aboutregistration/protectedtitles/

• Arts therapists
• Biomedical scientists
• Chiropodists and podiatrists
• Clinical scientists
• Dietitians
• Occupational therapists
• Operating department practitioners
• Orthoptists
• Paramedics
• Physiotherapists
• Practitioner psychologists
• Prosthetists and orthotists
• Radiographers
• Speech and language therapists

Ebony Gayle
020 7840 9784