Jocelyn Pryce, Head of Registration and Training at the IBMS, explains the checks required to register.
Regular readers of this column will know that here in the education department we are continuously reviewing our processes to ensure that they are as streamlined as possible and fit for purpose for all concerned. Almost all of those changes are driven by the recognition that, with the staff and workload profiles changing within laboratories and the significant increase in demands for our services, we must work with our service users to create processes which make good and effective use of all of our time. Our aims are to make the various requirements we have achievable in the most painless way possible and we are constantly re-evaluating and reflecting to make sure this is the case.
Occasionally, however, we may have to make a change that could seem counter-intuitive to these aims. An example of this is a requirement that has been introduced in a more formal way recently for those applying to join our various routes to registration; disability and barring service (DBS) checks. These checks are also known as criminal record bureau checks (CRB) and protecting vulnerable groups (PVG) checks. Some of you will have noticed that on our numerous application forms we now have a more formal requirement of a declaration that a DBS check has taken place.
We have had to implement a more robust process for ensuring checks have taken place as part of our requirement to meet the HCPC Standards of Education and Training (SETs) for our various routes to registration, in this case SET 2.4. – The admissions process must assess the suitability of applicants, including criminal conviction checks.
We did not take the decision lightly, as we are aware that it places more responsibility onto the candidates, training teams and employers. However, we must be assured that anyone undertaking our routes to registration meets these requirements. The HCPC has highlighted this as a potential concern should a candidate have travelled all the way through the process to the point of application for registration and the criminal conviction coming to light. This could be viewed as a possible barrier to them being eligible to register and seen as an oversight on the part of the education provider not to have highlighted it earlier in the process. In response to this, we now check at the point of application and again at the point of issuing the Certificate of Competence, so that we can satisfy the requirements of the HCPC both at the outset of their journey and at the point where we would normally expect them to apply for registration. Our approach is to raise awareness of it at the point of application so that candidates can be directed straight to the HCPC for guidance should something appear on the DBS check. We will also confirm once again at the point of award of the certificate that nothing has changed in the interim. This will demonstrate that we are exercising a duty of care as the education provider, to our trainees to ensure that they can meet this requirement of registration.