How regulators quality assure undergraduate education

How regulators quality assure undergraduate education

One of the key functions of health professional regulation is to check the quality of education and training courses for students. 

In June 2008, Lord Darzi completed his Next Stage Review of the NHS and in his report A High Quality Workforce he asked us to look into the quality assurance processes applied by the regulatory bodies to the Higher Education Institutions providing undergraduate healthcare programmes.

We have now completed our interim and final reports.

In summary, we have found that the legitimacy of regulators’ involvement in quality assurance is not questioned by education providers and it is valued for the confidence and subject-specific insight it provides. However, regulators are only one of a number of parties with a valid interest in undergraduate health programmes. Funders and commissioners, and professional organisations, are also involved.

There is concern about the total impact and possible overlap of different quality assurance type processes on higher education. Developments in other areas of policy mean that this is a constantly changing field for education providers.

In our report we conclude it would be impractical to try and seek a definitive solution. Instead it may be more productive to focus on establishing ways to live with change and manage tensions. In that spirit we make the following observations and recommendations:

• Different approaches are inevitable given the current legislative framework for health professional regulation.
   
• As programmes are overseen by the different agencies, including the NHS, greater clarity and understanding is needed about their respective roles.
   
• All regulators must be willing and able to demonstrate how their processes link proportionately to patient safety and public protection, maintaining the focus on the issue of being fit to join the register, or making further progress towards this point, is essential. Demonstrating the contribution of quality assurance to the main duty to protect the public would be valuable, both in improving education and in assuring the public of the competency of newly qualified healthcare professionals.
   
• Finally, CHRE will work with the regulators and other stakeholders to review our standard of good regulation around quality assurance of education for the 2009/2010 performance review, taking into account current perspectives on good practice. Given the regulators’ willingness to review and refine their approaches in the light of developments in practice, feedback and evaluation, there is potential to make changes that demonstrate good practice, proportionality and transparency in quality assurance.

For a quick summary of this project, read the summary paper.