The Federation for Healthcare Science consists of 46 member professional bodies, associations and societies that represent the 50,000 workforce that covers healthcare science in the health service.

Its current membership includes the two scientist groups already within HPC regulation (Biomedical and Clinical Scientists), aspirant professions and those to be included within the proposed regulation framework for assistant and associate practitioners.

The major role of the Federation is to articulate the collective views of its member organisations on matters that are significant for the practice of healthcare science in all its many and diverse forms within the health service.

The Federation’s response focuses on generic principles that have the support of all member organisations. Issues that may be relevant to specific professional groups will be dealt with as appropriate within responses from individual societies.

Q1. What are your views on the move to electronic voting as set out in the rules?

Providing all the necessary safeguards can be put in place with absolute confidence, the ability to register a vote via the internet is likely to produce a significant increase in the number of votes cast. Indeed it could be argued that a forward looking and modern regulator would have difficulty in justifying a voting system that did not have this option.

Q2. What are your views on the mechanism for meeting the home country requirement as set out in the rules.

Q3. What other steps etc? (we’re answering both of these at the same time).

The Federation believes that the rules relating to home country representation are somewhat vague, difficult to understand and confusing but never the less cannot suggest a credible alternative. Inevitably a system that is legally bound to adopt some form of positive discrimination in the event of a non- representative outcome to elections is less than ideal. However, the Act requires quotas to be met and there would seem to be little alternative.

Q4. What are your views on the Council’s decision to group similar sized professions together?

From a logistical and management perspective this would seem a logical approach. The HPC may wish to consider starting the process with the smaller groups. This would give the opportunity to bed in the election process without the added pressures of logistics that are associated with a large electorate.

5 July 2004

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