About
The Health Practice Associates Council (HPAC) is dedicated to safeguarding the health and well-being of patients who avail themselves of services provided by our registered individuals. We maintain stringent standards for the skills, conduct, and competence expected from professionals in their respective vocations.
The HPAC was established as a regulator in 2014 with support from seven NHS Ambulance trusts, voluntary organisations and independent ambulance providers. Now a registered council, we are a non-profit organisation governed by the public interest and are proud to have gained the support and involvement of numerous significant stakeholders in the industry.
Before going live, HPAC underwent an extensive two-year development process in consultation with the NHS, the Voluntary and Private Sectors, featuring meticulous trials and feedback collection from test registrants and organisations. The HPAC panel guarantees expert, ethical, and peer-reviewed governance and oversight of all our registrants.
HPAC operates as a non-profit Community Interest Company (CIC) registered in England and Wales under company number 10830551. We are regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office and the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies. All assets are publicly owned, and our panel and executive team members serve voluntarily.
Our mission is to enhance accountability for non-statutory regulated clinicians. We enable registrants to showcase their qualifications and professional development while identifying those who fall short of acceptable standards, thereby preserving role autonomy for safe clinical practice. Registrants can create and maintain reflective practices in their online portfolios using HPAC templates. We continually introduce new features and tools to support our registrants' continuous professional development.
For the latest Terms and Conditions, including our Acceptable Use Policy and Privacy Policy, please visit www.HPAC-uk.org/terms.
Public Access: Access to the HPAC UK Register is freely available to the public, providing limited visibility of registrant statuses and basic information.
Registrant Access: Registration carries an annual fee which goes toward the running costs of the register, verifying identity, certificate checks, DBS monitoring and issuing high-grade ID cards. Registrants must maintain profiles containing personal information, evidence of training, clinical qualifications, ongoing learning, and reflective practices. If associated to an organisation via the HPAC portal registrants can also receive and respond to organisation-issued action plans and variousdocuments for compliance.
Organisation Access: This level of access is granted with strict rules regarding the responsible use of registrant data. Organisational subscriptions provide vital funding for our operation, with four bands based on industry-related turnover. Organizations gain comprehensive access to registrant profiles, including information on complaints and compliments logged by NHS Trusts and third-party organizations. They receive notifications of new complaints/concerns added to a registrant's profile and can register new compliments or complaints.
Information Governance: HPAC UK strictly prohibits the uploading, storing, or sharing of patient-identifiable or commercially sensitive information. All users must comply with this requirement, and failure to do so may result in access being blocked. HPAC UK administrators promptly remove content in violation of NHS or approved organization Information Governance Policies.
Registrant Training and Qualification Evidence on HPAC: Registrants can upload personal evidence of clinical, driving, and other training qualifications and additional clinical modules. Organisations can access this evidence if a registrant is linked to them, and can assess registered individuals. HPAC notes additional competencies traditionally associated with clinician grade, but does not/cannot authorise practice. Actual scope of practice is the responsibility of the individual and/or their employer with reference to the relevant law/guidelines/training/competencies in accordance with practice jurisdiction.
Public Benefit: HPAC's primary goal is to enhance clinician accountability and competence, thereby preventing potentially unsafe individuals from gaining access to service users, and ultimately improving standards of practice.
Organisation Benefit: Easy access to information about prospective staff members allows Trusts and organizations to make informed decisions regarding individuals before granting them access to service users. Trusts and organizations receive instant notifications of new complaints or serious concerns added to an associated registrant's profile by another NHS Trust or organization.
Registrant Benefit: Registration with HPAC enhances credibility, accountability, and protection of role autonomy. Registrants gain access to the My Portfolio CPD tool, enabling them to use Reflective Practice Templates to create, record, edit, archive, download, and share their professional papers. We believe this tool aids registrants in their professional development and even in interviews. Evidence of continued learning and action plan-driven improvements can help registrants excel in their roles and elevate clinical standards. Registrants can easily upload and share certificates/evidence of further learning and qualifications with associated Trusts and organizations.
Data Security: HPAC-UK.org adheres to the Data Protection Act and its privacy policy, regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office. All information stored on the registry benefits from industry-standard online security measures. Communication between user browsers and the HPAC-uk.org website is encrypted to ensure data privacy and security.
All registrants held on our register are audited and verified. We verify registrants' qualifications, driver's licence, and identity - including the use of biometric facial matching and background checks to match certificate to applicant. We carry out Enhanced DBS checks and our system automatically monitors DBS certificates in real-time for changes in status, enabling rapid response when a potential risk to the public or staff is identified. All registrants are expected to maintain a CPD relevant to their registered grade. We pride ourselves on having an advanced safeguarding system that helps employers rapidly identify staff with concerning behaviours or allegations, helping to keep patients and other staff safe.
Joining the register, either as a registrant or as an organisation (to access the HPAC portal), helps to drive up standards of expectation in the industry, promotes best practice and helps to keep patients, the public and staff safe.
There is a registration fee of £79.50 per year, which is applied automatically every twelve months on the renewal date. The initial registration fee includes a high-quality driver's licence style ID card with multiple security features and an enhanced DBS check if an applicant is not on the update service (subsequent DBS checks or replacement ID cards carry an additional charge).
We regulate the following grades: First Aiders (FA) / Emergency First Responders (EFR) / Ambulance Care Assistants (ACA) / Emergency Care Assistants (ECA) / Ambulance Technicians (EMT) - HPAC registered EMTs are IHCD equivalent, FREUC 5 or higher / Associate Ambulance Practitioners (AAP). Before applying to register, please click here to ensure that you understand how we map our grades and what training/qualifications are required for each one.
Joining the register, either as a registrant or as an organisation (to access the HPAC portal), helps to drive up standards of expectation in the industry, promotes best practice and helps to keep patients, the public and staff safe.
There is a registration fee of £79.50 per year, which is applied automatically every twelve months on the renewal date. The initial registration fee includes a high-quality driver's licence style ID card with multiple security features and an enhanced DBS check if an applicant is not on the update service (subsequent DBS checks or replacement ID cards carry an additional charge).
We regulate the following grades: First Aiders (FA) / Emergency First Responders (EFR) / Ambulance Care Assistants (ACA) / Emergency Care Assistants (ECA) / Ambulance Technicians (EMT) - HPAC registered EMTs are IHCD equivalent, FREUC 5 or higher / Associate Ambulance Practitioners (AAP). Before applying to register, please click here to ensure that you understand how we map our grades and what training/qualifications are required for each one.
Mission Statement
The Health Practice Associates Council puts the patient at the centre of everything we do. We seek to ensure best practice, high standards of competence, proficiency and patient safety are adhered to by all our registered practitioners through regulation and support.
Core Values
- Put patient and public safety first
- Show care and compassion to all stakeholders
- Always strive to be fair and objective in decision making
- Pursue best practices at all times
The Health Practice Associates Council (HPAC) is a legally recognised council that is owned by the public and registered with Companies House as a non-profit Community Interest Company. The HPAC was launched in 2014 as no such register for ambulance staff other than Paramedics existed but was needed to regulate tens of thousands of ambulance staff operating across the sector. The register is a non-statutory regulator for non-paramedic ambulance personnel. The register was developed in collaboration with seven NHS Ambulance Trusts, input from St John Ambulance and British Red Cross, as well as from key independent ambulance service providers to help monitor and improve standards across the field. Initially, to help kickstart the register, we allowed registrants to self-regulate. As time progressed, we converted to fully regulating and auditing all registrants. For several years now, all of our registrants have been fully verified and audited, and no one is present on the register unless they have been fully verified and audited.
Our Vice-Chairman was the project lead for the registration of paramedics in the UK in 2001. He also set up and ran the IHCD programme, which was used nationwide by NHS Ambulance Services to train their Paramedics and Ambulance Technicians until recent years. Our Chairman was Chair of the College of Paramedics from 2010 to 2017. He wrote many of the standards the HCPC uses to hold paramedics to account, and introduced many advancements in training standards for Paramedics and the way the NHS Ambulance Service functions, including the introduction of Make Ready. As a regulator, the HPAC is set up to protect the public and support clinicians throughout their professional development. As it has progressed, we have welcomed on board registrants from different sectors of the health economy, such as Health Care Assistants, Phlebotomists and more.
Mission Statement
The Health Practice Associates Council puts the patient at the centre of everything we do. We seek to ensure best practice, high standards of competence, proficiency and patient safety are adhered to by all our registered practitioners through regulation and support.
Core Values
- Put patient and public safety first
- Show care and compassion to all stakeholders
- Always strive to be fair and objective in decision making
- Pursue best practices at all times
Our Vice-Chairman was the project lead for the registration of paramedics in the UK in 2001. He also set up and ran the IHCD programme, which was used nationwide by NHS Ambulance Services to train their Paramedics and Ambulance Technicians until recent years. Our Chairman was Chair of the College of Paramedics from 2010 to 2017. He wrote many of the standards the HCPC uses to hold paramedics to account, and introduced many advancements in training standards for Paramedics and the way the NHS Ambulance Service functions, including the introduction of Make Ready. As a regulator, the HPAC is set up to protect the public and support clinicians throughout their professional development. As it has progressed, we have welcomed on board registrants from different sectors of the health economy, such as Health Care Assistants, Phlebotomists and more.
Registering your organisation
Email: info@hpac-uk.org | communications@hpac-uk.org | Tel: 0208 0048226 (Tues - Fri, 10am - 4pm)
The Health Practice Associates Council is a Community Interest Company (CIC) registered in England and Wales, company number 10830551, and is regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office and the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies.
Email: info@hpac-uk.org | communications@hpac-uk.org | Tel: 0208 0048226 (Tues - Fri, 10am - 4pm)
The Health Practice Associates Council is a Community Interest Company (CIC) registered in England and Wales, company number 10830551, and is regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office and the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies.