Names, addresses and functions of a selection of government-funded bodies whose activities are related to the provision of health care. The health systems of the devolved administrations in Scotland and Northern Ireland as well as to a lesser extent in Wales, are steadily evolving so that separate structures are now in operation. While some of the more significant devolved bodies are included below, readers in the UK outside England are advised to contact their country's NHS websites for further information.
Different constituent countries of the UK have been devolved and care quality commission, Citygate, Gallowgate, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4PA (03000 616161, website: www.cqc.org.uk). A statutory body accountable to the Secretary of State for Health in England, which monitors, inspect and regulates services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety; it publishes its findings, including performance ratings to help people choose care. The commission's activities cover England and Wales; Scotland's equivalent to the CQC is Healthcare Improvement Scotland (see below).
general chiropractic council 44 Wicklow Street, London WC1X 9HL (020 7713 5155; www.gcc-uk.org). The GCC is an independent statutory body established by Parliament to regulate the chiropractic profession. It aims to protect the health and safety of the public by ensuring high standards of practice in the chiropractic profession.
The title of ‘chiropractor’ is protected by law and it is a criminal offence for anyone to describe themselves as a chiropractor without being registered with the GCC. It checks that all chiropractors are properly qualified and are fit to practise.
general dental council, 37 Wimpole Street, London W1G 8DQ (020 7167 6000; www.gdc-uk.org). Maintains a register of dentists; promotes high standards of dental education at all stages and of professional conduct among dentists. Its aim is to provide effective regulation of dental professionals to enhance patient safety, improve the quality of care and help ensure public confidence in dental regulation. It takes action against those who do not meet its standards or who break the law by working without being registered
general medical council (gmc), Regents Place, 350 Euston Rd, London NW1 3JN (0845 357 8001; www.gmc-uk.org). The GMC is an independent organisation that helps to protect patients and improve medical education and practice across the UK. It decides which doctors are qualified to work in the UK and oversees UK medical education and training. It sets the standards that doctors need to follow, and make sure that they continue to meet those standards throughout their careers. It takes action to prevent a doctor from putting the safety of patients, or the public's confidence in doctors, at risk.
general optical council, 10 Old Bailey, London EC4M 7NG (020 7580 3898; www.optical.org). It is the regulator for the optical professions in the UK whose purpose is to protect the public by promoting high standards of education, performance and conduct amongst opticians. It currently registers around 29,000 optometrists, dispensing opticians, student opticians and optical businesses.
general osteopathic council 176 Tower Bridge Road, London SE1 3LU (020 7357 6655; www.osteopathy.org.uk). It regulates the practice of osteopathy in the United Kingdom. It works with the public and osteopathic profession to promote patient safety by registering qualified professionals, and setting, maintaining and developing standards of osteopathic practice and conduct.
general pharmaceutical council R25 Canada Square, London E14 5LQ (020 3713 8000; www.pharmaceuticalregulation.org). The independent regulator for pharmacists, pharmacy technicians and pharmacy premises in Great Britain, whose job is to protect, promote and maintain the health, safety and wellbeing of members of the public by upholding standards and public trust in pharmacy. The GPhC approves qualifications and accredits education and training providers, maintains a register and sets standards for conduct, ethics, proficiency, education and training, and continuing professional development (CPD); it also establishes and promotes standards for the safe and effective practice of pharmacy at registered pharmacies and monitors registrants’ fitness to practise, taking action where necessary.
health and safety executive (hse), Caxton House, Tothill Street, London SW1H 9NA ((0300 003 1747; www.hse.gov.uk). It is 40 years since the Health and Safety at Work Act received Royal Assent, providing a new regulatory framework for work place health and safety in Great Britain. This has helped make Britain one of the safest places in the world to work, saving thousands of lives, preventing many more injuries at work and reducing the economic and social costs of health and safety failures. The HSE is dedicated to securing the health, safety and welfare of persons at work and to protect the public generally against risks to health or safety arising from work activities. It has powers to inspect the health and safety arrangements of organisations and, where these fail to meet statutory requirements or where accidents have occurred, it can investigate and prosecute offenders.
health improvement scotland, Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 9EB (0131 623 4300; www.healthcareimprovementscotland.org). The national healthcare improvement organisation for Scotland and part of the NHS Scotland. It works with staff who provide care in hospitals, GP practices, clinics, NHS Boards and with patients, carers, the community and the public. Its work drives improvements in the quality of healthcare people receive by providing quality improvement support to healthcare providers.
health professions council, Park House, 184 Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4BU (0300 500 4472; www.hpc-uk.org). Generally abbreviated to HCPC, this is the regulatory body holding the register and governing the activities in the UK of arts therapists, biomedical scientists, chiropodists / podiatrists, clinical scientists, dietitians, hearing aid dispensers, occupational therapists, operating department practitioners, orthoptists, paramedics, physiotherapists, practitioner psychologists, prosthetists / orthotists, radiographers, social workers (in England only) and speech and language therapists.
All of these professions have at least one professional title that is protected by law; This means, for example, that anyone using the titles ‘physiotherapist’ or ‘dietitian’ must be registered with the HCPC. It is a criminal offence for someone to claim that they are registered when they are not, or to use a protected title that they are not entitled to use, such that the HCPC may prosecute such individuals.
health research authority (hra), Skipton House, 80 London Road, London SE11 4BU (0300 500 4472; www.hra.nhs.net). A special health authority of the NHS which is responsible for providing policies and guidance for health and social care research. It does this through a statutory approval process all researchers must go through. It supervises local Research Ethics Committees which have the task of protecting the rights, safety, dignity and well-being of people who participate in research. Its Confidentiality Advisory Group (CAG) advises the HRA and the Secretary of State for Health on when a research group should be exempt from the common law duty restricting access to confidential identifiable information. health service commissioner for england (ombudsman), 11th Floor, Millbank Tower, Millbank, London SW1P 4QP (0345 015 4033; www.ombudsman.org.uk). Set up by Parliament to provide an independent complaint handling service, the commission shares findings from its casework with Parliament to help them scrutinise public service providers to help drive improvements. The commission is the final stage for complaints about the NHS in England and public services delivered by the UK Government. It looks into complaints where someone believes there has been injustice or hardship because an organisation has not acted properly or fairly or has given a poor service and not put things right. Its service is free for everyone.
It is not part of government, the NHS in England, or a regulator, nor is it a consumer champion.
health & social care information centre (hscic) see NHSDigital.
human fertilisation and embryology authority, 10 Spring Gardens, London, SW1A 2BU (020 7291 8200; www.hfea.gov.uk). A government body concerned with licensing and monitoring storage of human gametes (sperm and eggs) and embryos, research on human embryos, and any infertility treatment which involves the use of donated gametes or embryos created outside the body. It aims to provide impartial and authoritative information to the public.
medical practitioners tribunal service (mpts), 7th floor, St. James’ Building, 79 Oxford Street, Manchester, M1 6FQ (0161 923 6263; www.mpts-uk.org). A quasi-judicial body which conducts hearings into allegations by the General Medical Council about doctors. Tribunals normally consist of three persons, at least one of whom must be on the medical register and at least one a lay person. They decide upon the facts of the case, whether the doctor's fitness to practice is impaired and, if so, what sanction to apply.
medical research council (mrc), Polaris House, North Star Avenue, Swindon SN2 1FL (01793 416200; www.mrc.ac.uk). An executive non-departmental public body, sponsored by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy. It is a national funding agency dedicated to improving human health by supporting research across the entire spectrum of medical sciences, in universities and hospitals, in MRC units, centres and institutes in the UK, and in MRC units in Africa.
medicines & healthcare products regulatory agency (mhra), 151 Buckingham Palace Road, London, SW1W 9SZ (020 3080 6000; www.mhra.gov.uk). Accountable to the Department of Health, it is the regulator for all medicines, medical devices, equipment and blood products used in the UK. It licenses their manufacture, wholesale, import and export, working collaboratively with the European Medicines Agency. It can withdraw a product, suspend production or even prosecute when it identifies a serious safety risk.
mental welfare commission for scotland, Thistle House, 91 Haymarket Terrace, Edinburgh EH12 5HE (0800 389 6809; www.mwcscot.org.uk). This body has similar responsibilities in Scotland to those of the mental health component of the Care Quality Commission in England & Wales. It visits individuals with learning disability, mental illness or related problems and the institutions dealing with them, monitors adherence with the laws governing compulsory detention or treatment, investigates complaints and advises professionals.
national audit office (nao), 151 Buckingham Palace Road, Victoria, London SW1W 9SS (020 7798 7000; www.nao.org.uk). The NAO scrutinises public spending for Parliament. It reports audit results to Parliament, to help to hold government departments and other bodies to account for whether or not they have used public money, efficiently, effectively and with economy, thus safeguarding taxpayers’ interests. It investigates and reports on good practice and support to parliamentary select committees.
national blood & transplant service (nbts), (0300 123 23 23; www.nhsbt.nhs.uk). Created to manage all NHS Blood and transplant services in England, it manages regional transfusion services. Its objectives are to maintain blood and blood-product supply, based on a system of two million voluntary donors; and to ensure a safe, high-quality, cost-effective supply of blood and blood products for national needs. Safeguarding blood supply and increasing the number of donated organs involves collecting, testing, processing, storing and delivering blood, plasma and tissue to every NHS Trust in England. It also matches, allocates, audit and analyse organ donations across the whole of the UK (see also Welsh Blood Service, below).
national institute for health and care excellence (nice), 10 Spring Gardens, London SW1A 2BU (0300 323 0140; www.nice.org.uk). A non-departmental independent public body, accountable to the Department of Health which provides national guidance and advice to commissioners and providers to improve health and social care. Although it is designed as an English body, it also supplies products and services, by agreement, to the devolved countries of the UK. It produces evidence-based guidelines and pathways for clinical treatments in hospitals and general practice based on scientific evidence. It appraises new and existing technologies and promotes clinical audit and confidential inquiries into clinical practices in the NHS. It produces quality standards and performance metrics for those providing and commissioning health, public health and social care services and a range of informational services for commissioners, practitioners and managers across the spectrum of health and social care.
nhs 111 A 24-hour a day service throughout the UK (called NHS 24 in Scotland) with a free telephone number (111) to call for any urgent healthcare need, not requiring the 999 emergency service when a general practitioner is not available. The service is run by fully trained advisers, supported by experienced nurses and paramedics. They ask questions to assess symptoms and provide appropriate healthcare advice or direct the caller straightaway to the local service that can help best, such as an Accident & Emergency department at a hospital. If the NHS 111 team think an ambulance is needed, they will send one immediately.
nhs digital (formerly health & social care information centre – hscic), 1 Trevelyan Square, Boar Lane, Leeds, LS1 6AE; www.nhsdigital.nhs.uk). For England & Wales, the provider of information, data and IT systems for commissioners, analysts, clinicians and researchers in health and social care. Amongst other tasks, it stores the unique NHS identifying number for 96% of those registered with the NHS in England & Wales, runs an electronic prescription service for 75% of all general practices, arranges for patient electronic records to be securely transferred when patients register with a different GP. It provides a secure data storage service for hospitals and holds and distributes confidentially the nations’ X-ray and scan images.
nhs england, Quarry House, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7UE (0300 311 2233; www.england.nhs.uk). The organisation which leads the National Health Service (NHS) in England. In setting priorities and direction of the NHS, it shares out more than £100 billion in funds and holds organisations to account for spending this money effectively for patients and efficiently for the taxpayer. This is achieved largely through commissioning of health care services including contracts for GPs, pharmacists, and dentists and by Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), which plan and pay for local services such as hospitals and ambulance services.
nhs scotland Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh EH12 9EB (0800 224488; www.scot.nhs.uk). Separate from its English equivalent, NHS Scotland consists of 14 regional NHS Boards responsible for the protection and the improvement of their population's health and for the delivery of frontline healthcare services, 7 Special NHS Boards and 1 public health body. It employs about 140,000 staff. Each NHS Board is accountable to Scottish Ministers, supported by the Scottish Government Health and Social Care Directorates.
The regional Boards are responsible for the protection and the improvement of their population's health and for the delivery of frontline healthcare services. Special NHS Boards support the regional NHS Boards by providing a range of important specialist and national services.
nursing and midwifery council, 23 Portland Place, London W1N 4JT (020 7333 9333; www.nmc.org.uk). The regulatory body which sets standards for education and conduct of the nursing and midwifery professions and maintains the professional register of those allowed to practise in the UK. It sets standards of education, training, conduct and performance so that nurses and midwives can deliver high quality healthcare throughout their careers and makes sure that nurses and midwives keep their skills and knowledge up to date and uphold proper professional standards. It investigates nurses and midwives who fall short of standards.
professional standards authority, 157–197 Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1W 9SP (020 7389 8030; www.professionalstandards.org.uk). An independent body, answerable to Parliament, which helps to protect the public by improving the regulation and registration of people who work in health and care. PSA reviews the work of the regulators of health and care professionals (such as the General Medical Council, Nursing & Midwifery Council etc.); accredits organisations that register health and care practitioners in unregulated occupations; gives policy advice to government ministers and others; and encourages research to improve regulation.
public health england, Wellington House, 133–155 Waterloo Road, London SE1 8UG (0707 654 8000; www.phe.gov.uk). This governmental agency aims to make the public healthier by encouraging discussions, advising government and supporting action by local government, the NHS and other people and organisations. It has the role of protecting the nation's health through the national health protection service, and preparing for public health emergencies; researching, collecting and analysing data to improve understanding of health; and helping local authorities and the NHS develop the public health system and its specialist workforce.
Information about the Scottish equivalent can be found at www.scotphn.net.
welsh blood service, Ely Valley Road, Talbot Glen, Pontyclun, CF72 9WB (0800 25 22 26; www.welsh-blood.org.uk). Responsible for providing blood products throughout Wales. It also operates the Welsh Transplantation & Immunogenetics Laboratory, to provide direct support to local providers of Renal and Stem Cell Transplant Services. It also operates a national panel of unrelated potential blood stem cell donors – the Welsh Bone Marrow Donor Registry.