Learning from COVID-19: PSA publishes report on regulators’ response
21.04.21 News
The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) has published ‘Learning from Covid-19’, a study of the actions taken by regulators in the initial phase of the pandemic
The report identifies early lessons from the initial phase of the pandemic up to July 2020 and highlights how regulators have adjusted to new ways of working and what changes have been introduced, including online learning, virtual fitness to practise hearings, the use of new modes communications and social media to publish updates, key guidance and information resources to apply in these unprecedented times.
The report also identifies where there is potential for changes made to become standard practice, while also identifying areas of improvement for further planning, research and collaboration will be needed. One of the cases is from the GCC, which looks at how the Professional Conduct Committee and the Test of Competence (TOC) panel interview assessors successfully transitioned to paperless working and serving documents electronically, after receiving training and learning.
Our Chief Executive and Registrar, Nick Jones, said: ‘We welcome the publication of this report from the PSA and appreciated the opportunity to contribute towards its findings. Although the Covid-19 pandemic has posed many challenges for regulators, it has also represented opportunities for change and has shone a light on many areas for growth and improvement to continue to support and guide our registrants. I very much encourage chiropractors to read the case studies in the report’.
Chief Executive of the PSA, Alan Clamp, said: ‘The regulators we oversee rapidly changed the way they do their work to help control the spread of infection, support and guide registrants and students, contribute to an increased workforce, and keep the show on the road.
‘There are many examples of positive innovations but the challenge now is to ensure that they do not diminish public protection or patients’ voices. We must also seek to understand better the pandemic’s unequal impacts, and how regulation can contribute to greater equality in future’.