25 June 2002
132.Parliament has established statutory frameworks for a number of health care professions within which the professions regulate themselves. For the most part there are separate enactments for each professional group (doctors; dentists; nurses, midwives and health visitors; opticians; pharmacists; osteopaths; chiropractors and the twelve professions coming within the remit of the Health Professions Council). Each of these groups has its own regulatory body operating within its own legal framework:
The General Medical Council – Medical Act 1983
The General Dental Council – Dentists Act 1984
The Nursing and Midwifery Council – Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001
The General Optical Council – Opticians Act 1989
The Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain – Pharmacy Act 1954, Medicines Act 1968 (and in Northern Ireland, The Pharmaceutical Society of Northern Ireland – Pharmacy (Northern Ireland) Order 1976
The General Osteopaths Council – Osteopaths Act 1993
The General Chiropractic Council – Chiropractors Act 1994
The Health Professions Council – Health Professions Order 2001
133.The different enactments make provisions which, with very few exceptions, could until recently only be changed by means of primary legislation. Section 60 and Schedule 3 of the Health Act, therefore provided a framework within which Her Majesty by Order in Council can modify the enactments affecting professional regulation and regulate any other health care profession.