From a speech and language therapist's point of view

Please note, the author of the letter reproduced below is speaking as an individual, not as a current HPC-registered Speech and Language Therapist. The letter was sent to the PsyReg site, and I am glad to have seen a copy of it, and to be able to put it here for others to read.



Dear Campaigners against HPC Registration,

I have read the Maresfield Report, and the information on the Psyreg website, with some interest. I am writing this in support of your endeavours to resist HPC registration. I should say at the outset that I am writing this as a private individual, not as a representative of any professional body.

I worked for over twenty years as a qualified Speech and Language Therapist for the NHS, retiring two years ago. My final position was as a Senior Specialist, working with adults with progressive and acquired neurological problems. Speech and Language Therapists work in many different ways, across a wide spectrum from counselling (particularly with those who have difficulties communicating) through to specific medical interventions, such as the diagnosis and management of swallowing problems. They also work across many settings, including education, social services, and health.

Although psychotherapy and counselling are fields in themselves, I recognised many of the comments made in the Maresfield Report. Speech and Language Therapists came under the HPC some years ago; and I am afraid that, if you come under them as well, you will find some of your worst fears will come to pass. Specifically, I would say that your professions will be 'lumped together' in one medical model; you will find yourselves enmeshed in time-wasting and expensive bureaucratic and training procedures; and (this is something intangible but real) any openness and good will that you may have developed personally and collectively will tend to be dissipated.

No-one doubts the need for clients to be protected, and for therapists to be as professional and effective as possible. However, in the case of the Speech and Language Therapists (and yourselves as well, I suspect), self-regulation was more than adequate. There is a perfectly good organisation, the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists, which had been regulating the profession without problem prior to the arrival of the HPC. The investigative procedures of the HPC, as you point out, are intimidating, expensive and inefficient.

I would point out one issue that you may not have considered fully up to this time. Your professions, I would imagine, have a great many practitioners who work on a self-employed basis, or as part of small independent organisations. It is precisely these people who will find it difficult to meet the demands of the HPC. In my own case, I worked for the NHS. The team I worked for therefore found it easier to cope with the ongoing bureaucratic and training demands, because we weren't paying for it all, so long as we were working within the NHS. But if anyone took a career break, or longer maternity leave, they had to continue their committments to the HPC if they were to remain registered and able to work. This could mean paying for expensive courses and keeping up with all the bureaucratic record-keeping, with no income coming in. This may be the case for many of your independent practitioners - in a phrase, they 'won't fit' into the HPC world-view. In my own case, I decided against continuing to work in any reduced capacity as a Speech and Language Therapist after retirement, mainly because it would have involved continued contact with the HPC, and a great deal of expense. This, in my view, is a complete waste - the government were kind enough to offer me expensive training at the beginning of my working career, but they 'threw away' what skills and experience I had gained at the end of it.

It is to be hoped that your case against HPC registration will be strengthened by the recent change of government, who may want to reduce the scope and influence of such organisations in an effort to save money. That's not a political point I'm making, by the way, just an observation. In any case, I wish you well in your campaign, and I hope this e-mail has given you some insights from within a profession that has already had experience of HPC registration.

Best wishes,

Phil Maillard.