About

The purpose of HealthPractice Associates Council is to protect the health and well being of patientswho use the services of the individuals registered with us. We only seek toregister people who meet the expected standards for their vocation’s skills,conduct and competence.

Beforegoing live HPAC was developed in consultation with the NHS, Voluntary &Private Sector over a two year period, with carefully run trials andaccumulation of feedback from a group of test registrants and organisations.The HPAC panel ensures expert, ethical and peer reviewed governance andoversight of all our registrants.

HealthPractice Associates Council is a non-profit Community Interest Company (CIC)registered in England and Wales, company number 10830551 and is regulated bythe Information Commissioner's Office and the Office of the Regulator ofCommunity Interest Companies. All assets are owned by the public interest andcurrently all members of the panel and executive team are voluntary.

HPAC improves accountability for non-statutory regulated clinicians. Displayingqualifications and professional development, as well as highlight those whofail to meet acceptable standards preserving role autonomy for safe practisingclinicians. Registrants can create and store reflective practices in theironline portfolio making use of HPAC templates. We continue to introduce newfeatures and facilities to support our registrants in developing their CPD.

Forthe most up to date Terms and Conditions including Acceptable Use Policy andPrivacy Policy visit  www.HPAC-uk.org/terms. 

PublicAccess
Public access to the HPAC UK Register is free. This includes limited visibilityof registrant statuses and other basic information.

Registrant Access
Membership carries a nominal monthly fee, where identity and certificates ofregistrants are checked and checked and verified and a high grade ID card isissued. Profiles host personal information, evidence of training, clinicalqualifications, further learning, reflective practices and use of the CPD toolin the “My Portfolio” section. Profile access will also include the ability toreceive and respond to NHS and other organisation issued action plans withoverdue prompt feature.

Organisation Access

Thislevel of access is privileged and if granted carries strict rules relating tothe responsible use of associated registrants' data. We also need monies tofunction, in part from Member subscriptions. We have 4 Bands, based onself-declared industry related turnover which can be found via the organisation registration page. Organisations will have acomprehensive view of associated registrant profiles which reflect informationsuch as complaint and compliment history logged by NHS Trusts and 3rd partyorganisations. Organisations will receive a notification when a newcomplaint/concern is added to a registrant’s profile well and can also registera new compliment or complaint.

Information Governance
HPAC UK terms of use prohibit the uploading, storing or sharing any patientidentifiable or commercially sensitive information. All users of the system(registrants and /or organisational administrators) must comply with thisrequirement and failure to do so may result in their access to HPAC UK beingblocked. HPAC UK administrators will immediately remove any content deemed tobe in breach of NHS or any other approved organisation’s Information GovernancePolicy.
Registrant Training and Qualification Evidence on HPAC UK
HPAC UK  has the facility for registrants to upload personal evidence ofclinical, driving and other training  qualifications and  additionalclinical modules. Associated  organisations can access this evidence tohelp assess registered individuals, but verification of qualifications/evidencefalls to organisations and Trusts as HPAC UK is not responsible for skills orlicence validations.

Public Benefit
The HPAC program intended to improve clinician accountability which in turnhelps avoid unsafe individuals gaining access to service users. Consequently standards of practice should be improved.

Trust and Organisation Benefit
Easily accessible information regarding prospective staff members that helpsTrusts and organisations to make an informed decision regarding individualsbefore allowing them access to service users.  

Trusts and organisations will receive instant notifications when new complaintsor serious concern are added to an associated registrant’s profile by anotherNHS Trust or Organisation.


Registrant Benefit
Registration improves credibility, accountability and protection of roleautonomy. 

Registrants will be able to access the My Portfolio CPD tool and use ReflectivePractice Templates to write, record, edit, archive, download and share theirpapers. We believe this will aid registrants in their professional developmentand even in interviews.

Evidence of continued learning and action plan driven improvements will helpdevelop registrants in their respective roles and improve their clinicalstandards. 

Registrants can easily upload and share  certificates/evidence of furtherlearning and/or qualifications with associated Trusts and organisations.

18. Data Security
HPAC-UK.org is bound by the data protection act and its privacy policy andregulated by the Information Commissioner's Office. All information storedon the registry is protected by industry standard online security. Allcommunications between user browsers and the HPAC-uk.org website are encrypted.

FAQs

 

Q: What is the primaryfunction of HPAC?

A: 

There are two current focuses: 1)Safeguarding patients and protecting role autonomy through increasedaccountability 2) Supporting Registrants in their  professionaldevelopment.

1.      By linking in with registered organisations, registrants makethemselves nationally accountable, this means that if a safeguarding concern orserious clinical development need regarding a registrant is flagged, the multi-agency platform allows all associated organisations to be instantlynotified. Future organisations registrants grant associate status to will alsobe able to view outstanding developmental action plans or ongoing safeguardingor driving standards issues (if any). If a serious concern is reported to HPACby an organisation, Trust, or Police our review panel, made up byrepresentatives from private, voluntary and public sector, will review theevidence supplied to HPAC. If upheld a public facing caution or suspension willbe applied to his or her basic profile for a set period or indefinitely. HPACwill not actively investigate reported concerns, rather we will react toevidence supplied and we will also pass information where necessary.

By firming up national accountability fornon-statutory regulated Health Practice Associates Council, we believe roleautonomy for safe practicing clinicians will be further preserved.

2.      Apart from providing a platform for registrants to showcasetheir skills and achievements, a major update to the system is due to bereleased within the next week or so which will provide a portfolio managementtab to registrant's profile page. This will mean registrants can create a CPDfolder using supplied templates with target completion dates for reflectivepractices which prompt completion and a display a progress bar for each casestudy. The toolkit makes registrant CPDs shareable, printable, downloadable andeasily manageable.

 

Q: Is HPAC a validator of registrant credentials such as clinicalqualifications, Identity and drivers licence details.

A: 

HPAC will check registrant documents,identity, qualifications (including blue light driving certificates) and DBS.All registrants are required to be honest and forthcoming informing us if theyare unsure about any aspects of the information they have supplied. Registrantsmust inform HPAC of any issues which could result in restrictions to theirpractice, such as a court order prohibiting them from having access to childrenor vulnerable adults. All registrants who have been successfully verified by HPACwill carry the verified tick on their public profile and a drivers licencestyle HPAC ID card will be issued.

HPAC accepts no liability for the actions ofregistrants or any third party who accepts or provides services in relianceupon an individual's registration. HPAC should be viewed as an additionalsafeguarding and professional development resource designed to further helpprotect the public through regulation such as the HCPC or the NMC promotingexcellence in the national health care economy. Independent checks are always recommended!

 

As things go in developmentwe have been ironing out the bugs and hope to release helpful updates andservices improving functionality, features and accessibility for theregistrants, organisations, wider stakeholders and the public. It is importantto us that we develop a supportive culture for the continuing development ofnon-statutory regulated health sector workers and we welcome all constructivefeedback. HPAC is as much about registrant development as it is aboutaccountability.

We hope this helps shed a bit more light on HPACand thank you for taking the time to read our comments. 

Best wishes 
HPAC Team