Mark Seale
Chief Executive
Health Professions Council
Park House
184 Kennington Park Road
London
SE11 4BU

Dear Mark

I write to express UNISON’s concern at the level of fees being charges by the Health Professions Council to Ambulance Paramedics who are members of the professional register. Unison is the largest public sector union representing the majority of ambulance staff in the United Kingdom.

Unison fought for many years to achieve Paramedic registration and we remain committed to the principle of a Health Professions Council register that will protect the public and offer professional development to registered groups. However the current cost of registration for Paramedics is having a damaging effect on the achievement of a comprehensive Paramedic register.

The present fee for an eligible Paramedic is one hundred and twenty pounds (£120) for a period of two years. This is three times the amount charged to nurses on the Nurses and Midwives register at sixty pounds for three years (£60) and more than twice the amount previously charged to other registrants such as Occupational Therapists at twenty-two pounds (£22) per year. Paramedics consider this to be an unreasonable fee for very little by way of support or service.

I would wish you to be aware that in our opinion the relatively high level of charges for Paramedic registration on the HPC register is having a potential adverse effect on the ambulance service.

The detrimental effect of this excessive charge for Paramedics is that out of a potential of six thousand five hundred qualified Paramedics eligible to register some six hundred have not done so. They cannot practice as Paramedics and so the cover by first line response staff throughout the country is reduced. Their continued absence from the register causes operational problems for their employer trust who are faced with unnecessary problems having to use Paramedics on duties which are not fully utilising their skills and qualifications.

Further we now have groups of Paramedics threatening to withdraw from the register so depleting the numbers practicing even further.

This problem has the potential to adversely effect and disrupt the ambulance emergency cover in specific areas of the country should Paramedics decide to de-register. The West Midlands and Stafford is a particularly difficult area where mass de-registration has been threatened.

We would ask therefore that the HPC re-examines the level of fees for Paramedics and that they be restructured to allow a more equitable phasing of the charges more in line with those being levied on other groups who have professional registration.

I am of course pleased to meet you to discuss this matter at a time convenient to yourself.