Responses

From the Health & Care Professions Council

[UNRESTRICTED] Re: The Politicisation of Clinical Psychology Training courses in the UK

Thursday 2 February 2023 at 15:43

Dear Dr Sherwood,

Please accept my sincere apologies for the delay in responding to your email of 7 October. 

Thank you for sharing your report with us and updating us on recent developments. We have reviewed your report and the concerns that you raised and provide a response below. Your email also references correspondence sent to us by [Redacted] and we have responded to [Redacted] directly. 

As outlined in our email to you of 3 March 2022, we set the Standards for clinical psychologists which all professionals using that title must adhere to. The education programmes which we quality assure must enable those who have completed approved programmes to meet the HCPC’s Standards at the point of registration. These Standards are focused on ensuring the protection of patients and service users. The Standards allow some discretion to education providers, both in relation to wider course content and as to how providers ensure our Standards are met. We therefore consider that the matters you describe in your report, do not directly engage HCPC’s Standards.

If there are concerns about specific institutions or programmes meeting our standards, these can be raised via our website at Reporting concerns or information about a provider or programme | (hcpc-uk.org). 

With best wishes,

Rachael 

Rachael Gledhill (she/ her)
Acting Head of Policy and Standards
The Health and Care Professions Council
Park House, 184-186 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4BU
www.hcpc-uk.org