Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 3 October 2023
664. Deputy Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire asked the Minister for Health to provide an update on the registration of psychologists under CORU; and what remedy exists for any persons who have been provided with psychological services, such as educational assessments, by persons unqualified for same. [42657/23]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs the Deputy will be aware, CORU is Ireland’s multi-profession health and social care regulator. CORU’s role is to protect the public by regulating the health and social care professions designated under the Health and Social Care Professionals Act 2005 (as amended), including setting the standards that health and social care professionals must meet to be eligible for registration and maintaining registers of persons who meet those standards.
Seventeen health and social care professions are designated for regulation by CORU. There are currently registers open for eleven professions and CORU is continuing the substantial work required to open the registers for the remaining designated professions of Social Care Workers; Psychologists; Counsellors and Psychotherapists; Clinical Biochemists; and Orthoptists.
The Psychologists Registration Board (PSRB) was established in 2017. The work of the PSRB includes consideration of the titles to be protected, the minimum qualifications to be required of existing practitioners, the qualifications that will be required for future graduates, and drafting the Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes.
Regulating a new profession is a complex and lengthy process, requiring careful consideration and preparatory work to ensure that it is effective in protecting the public. Psychology has been a uniquely challenging profession to regulate due to the diversity of its specialisms (for example clinical psychology, counselling psychology, occupational and work psychology, sports and performance psychology) and the fact that there is no common education pathway or standards for entry to the profession.
In 2020 a public consultation on the draft Standards of Proficiency and Criteria for Education and Training Programmes developed for the profession revealed significant issues and a lack of consensus on how to proceed with regulation. Key areas of disagreement among the profession are around the minimum level of qualification required for entry to the profession, the number of placement hours, and the appropriateness of practice placement settings.
Having reached an impasse, CORU wrote to me on behalf of the PSRB in September 2021 seeking guidance on how to proceed. Having considered the matter with due regard to the complexity of this profession, its diverse specialisms (including non-health and social care specialisms), the lack of consensus among the profession on how to proceed, and risks to the public of delays in opening a register, I wrote to CORU in August 2022 requesting that the PSRB consider a dual-stream and phased approach to regulating the profession. This approach will allow the PSRB to prioritise regulating the psychology specialisms which present the greatest risk to public safety, while simultaneously continuing to work towards the long-term objective of protecting the title of ‘psychologist’.
CORU wrote to wrote to me on 3 March 2023 with the PSRB’s recommendations on which specialisms should be prioritised for regulation, using an evidence and risk-based methodology. I have accepted the PSRB’s recommendations to prioritise regulation of clinical, counselling, and educational psychology. On 24 April 2023 I wrote to CORU requesting the PSRB to proceed to immediately regulate these three specialisms, while progressing work to protect the title of psychologist in parallel.
The PSRB has now commenced its work to establish the education and training standards for entry to each of these three specialist divisions, and to identify technical legislative amendments required to enable the opening of these divisions of the register.
In parallel, an Expert Advisory Group is being convened by CORU to examine and make recommendations on a regulatory model that will facilitate regulation of the psychology profession. This will include international regulatory and professional experts. The Expert Advisory Group is working towards making recommendations to the Psychologists Registration Board and Council by the end of 2023.
Owing to the significant body of preparatory work that the PSRB are required to undertake, it is not possible to say with any degree of accuracy when the profession of psychologist will be fully regulated. I would anticipate that these registration boards will require a number of years to complete their work.
Whilst work to regulate the psychology profession is ongoing, patients and service users have existing rights and access to remedy under consumer protection law, specifically the Consumer Protection Act 2007 and the Consumer Rights Act 2022. The Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) is the statutory body responsible for promoting compliance with, and enforcing, competition and consumer protection law in Ireland. The CCPC operates a consumer helpline to provide information to consumers about their rights.
In addition to consumer protection measures, consumers entering into contracts may also have remedies under contract law and should seek independent legal advice. Where a crime may have been committed by a practitioner presenting fraudulent qualifications, a report should be made to An Garda Síochána.
