Health Professions Council
November 2008
Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK and HPC Registration
Application for the Health Professions Council (HPC) registration by the Association for Dance Movement Therapy UK (renamed in 2008 as the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK – ADMP UK) was accepted by HPC in March 2004, when the Secretary of State for Health was advised of this decision.
Dance Movement Therapists/Psychotherapists await the parliamentary timetable for State Regulation of the Dance Movement Psychotherapy profession to be completed.
All decisions on extending state regulation to new professions were suspended (2005-06) due to urgent government revues, such as
- Safeguarding Patients: The Governments response to the recommendations to the Shipman Inquiry’s fifth report
- The Foster Review
- The White Paper – Trust, Assurance and Safety – The Regulation of Health Professions in the 21st century.
- The Ayling, Neale and Kerr/Haslam Inquiries
These reviews have required substantial legislative changes so ADMP’s regulation process has had to wait in a queue behind psychologists, health care scientists, psychotherapists, and counsellors.
To support Dance Movement Psychotherapists in the UK the following information is provided for practitioners and for employers concerned about the state regulation of registered members of the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy U.K.
If registered members of the Association for Dance Movement Psychotherapy UK, or employers, are troubled by this situation then please contact the Chair of ADMP UK as soon as possible. He can be contacted at admtchair@yahoo.co.uk
The following excerpts are from communications between ADMT/P UK, the Health Professions Council, the Department of Health, and Professor Diane Waller – Arts Therapist Registrant at HPC.
From - Marc Searle
Chief Executive and Registrar HPC
3rd March 2004
To - The Right Hon Dr John Reid MP
Secretary of State for Health
Dear Secretary of State
Re: Dance Movement Therapists
At a meeting of the Health Professions Council on Tuesday 2nd March it was decided that Dance Movement Therapists should be recommended for regulation.
Article 3 (17) of the Health Professions Order 2001 states:
(17) The council may –
- Make recommendations to the Secretary of State concerning any profession which in its opinion should be regulated pursuant to section 60(1)(b) of the Health Act 1999
A copy of this letter has been sent to Ros Mead, Head of Non-Medical Regulation at the Department of Health in Leeds.
From – Alexandra Mortimer
Deputy Project Manager
Education, regulation & Play
Workforce Directorate
Department of Health
10th October 2006
To – Susan Scarth
Chair - ADMT UK 2003 – 2007
... The Health Professions Council (HPC) recommended to the Secretary of State for Health in March 2004 that in its opinion Dance Movement Therapists ought to be regulated, as it is able to under the Health Professions Order 2001. However, it has been and is the Department of health’s position that Dance Movement Therapists are currently not a priority profession for statutory regulation and could not be considered before 2008 at the earliest given existing commitments. Department officials have confirmed this to the HPC in the past.
Subsequently all decisions about extending regulation to the new professions were suspended due to the review on non-medical regulation undertaken by Andrew Foster, then Director of Workforce at the Department of Health, in 2005...
From - Professor Diane Waller
HPC Registrant
5th November 2008
To – Arts Therapies Chairs (via email)
... The delay is caused by parliamentary backlog, the psychologists being earlier in the queue and this legislation being delayed, and the government prioritising psychotherapy and counselling (more potential for harm). Marc Seale from HPC has also explained many times that it is out of HPC's hands but we have pressured DoH whenever possible and the situation is known about.
The fact of not yet being regulated should make absolutely no difference at all to employment... It may be worth pointing out firmly to employers who are discriminating against DMT that psychologists, psychotherapists and counsellors are not yet regulated yet they are not being denied jobs!
The official position is that HPC has recommended to the Dept of Health that DMT be regulated and the DoH is working through the normal procedures (which involve a 3 month consultation period) with the psychological therapies having taken precedence following the White Paper that came out after the Foster and Donaldson reviews (which were mainly focussed on medical regulation post Shipman et al). There have also been other preoccupations such as the Health Care Scientists, Assistants and so on. This is all DoH responsibility. So, any examples of employers stating DMT cannot be employed due to lack of regulation need to be forwarded to me and I will forward to Marc (Searle) at HPC.
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