State Registration - CORU

Dingle_berry

So state registration for allied healthcare /para-medical workers is here.
What do people think of it? Will it just be another membership fee? Is it even required? Is anyone serving or planning to serve on a board or council?

I like how it will make continuous professional development mandatory - it's something we're probably (I hope!) all doing but this way it will be documented, structured and more actively participated in.

I have heard fears of it being used for constructive dismissal - your employer seeks out some flaw, not necessarily related to your role (eg getting arrested for shoplifting or getting penalty points), and using this to make a complaint against you. If you're removed from the register then you can't do your job.

I also wonder how the protected titles will work. If I don't meet the requirements to use the title of Medical Scientist could I still do the job but call myself a biomedical scientist? Or transfusion scientist? Unlikely to happen in the public sector but what about the private? Will there be dilution of the duties/roles? As in could a social care worker assume some of the role of a social worker without having to register as one?

And where did the figure of €295 for registration come from? Especially if the government could drop it to €100 as part of CP2! Was it arbitrarily chosen or the result of calculations? Where were the government going to make up the deficit of €195 or was that just "profit"?

echo beach

Dingle_berry wrote: »

What do people think of it? Will it just be another membership fee? Is it even required?

Some form of registration is required, especially for anybody working directly with the public. If it has to be this type of registration is another matter.

I like how it will make continuous professional development mandatory - it's something we're probably (I hope!) all doing but this way it will be documented, structured and more actively participated in.

While everybody agrees that CPD is a 'good' thing, there is less agreement on how it should be done and documented. It can easily become a box ticking, credit gathering exercise that is of little benefit except to the pockets of various 'providers'

I have heard fears of it being used for constructive dismissal - your employer seeks out some flaw, not necessarily related to your role (eg getting arrested for shoplifting or getting penalty points), and using this to make a complaint against you. If you're removed from the register then you can't do your job.

It won't be that easy to remove people from the register. Doctors and nurses aren't struck off of having penalty points. Your right to earn a living is protected in the constitution. It has to be a very serious matter before anybody can lose their job so I'd say those fears are exaggerated.

I also wonder how the protected titles will work. If I don't meet the requirements to use the title of Medical Scientist could I still do the job but call myself a biomedical scientist? Or transfusion scientist? Unlikely to happen in the public sector but what about the private? Will there be dilution of the duties/roles? As in could a social care worker assume some of the role of a social worker without having to register as one?

Hard to know yet. You can call yourself anything you like if it isn't a protected title but employers are likely to take the easy option, and cover themselves, by insisting that you are registered.

And where did the figure of €295 for registration come from? Especially if the government could drop it to €100 as part of CP2! Was it arbitrarily chosen or the result of calculations? Where were the government going to make up the deficit of €195 or was that just "profit"?

I'm sure there were calculations done, probably by expensive consultants (the management rather than the medical type). Regulation is an expensive business and one of the few growth industries in this country. Dropping the price is a sweetener. It will only be going one way in the future.

k_t11

I think getting arrested for shoplifting would be relevant to your job. You should look up the English register HCPC you can see reports on people who are being reprimanded for work and personal reasons. In the UK if you get ticketed for speeding on your own you would be fine but if your speeding with a service user in the car then your practice would be up in front of the board.

Also for anyone who has to go through the International Recognition Process it takes about 4 weeks without having to put pressure on them! If you got your undergrad in Ireland and did a postgrad elsewhere send on verified copies of both (even though it just asks for international qualification). I just sent on my postgrad info and mine was delayed about a week. The guidance says 4 months so just wanted to let people know my experience.

seachanges

Anyone been through the CORU registration? How long does it take? Thanks

bisset

It took CORU about 9 months to register me after I submitted my documentation.