Lord Alderdice worried whether HPC is fit to practice

quote from Lord Alderdice, House of Lords February 2007 7.35 pm:

"Why this dissatisfaction with the HPC? The membership of the HPC is primarily concerned with those who treat physical illnesses, and the way that they deal with training and skills is much less variable. In general terms—and I know that I am not doing justice here—while there is largely a right way of doing physiotherapy, chiropody or microbiological or histopathological tests, there is much wider variation in psychological treatments. The HPC professions are also much more able to set out their skills in the form of protocols which can be followed by people of a range of personalities. It matters relatively little if one technician or physiotherapist has to be replaced with another. The personality of the therapist and the relationship with the client is, however, crucial—indeed sometimes central—to psychological treatments."

for more of this, click the title - it provides a link to Ipnosis, where Denis Postle has collected together a wealth of relevant material, including this extract from Hansards.