PDA calls on government to extend proposals to regulate NHS managers

The Pharmacists' Defence Association (PDA) has welcomed a commitment by the government to regulate NHS managers through the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC), but insisted that the proposals should be extended to the private sector.

Following a public consultation by the Department of Health and Social Care between November 2024 and February 2025, the government announced that it would be taking forward legislative work to provide HCPC with the statutory powers to ‘disbar NHS leaders in senior roles who have committed serious misconduct from holding such roles’.

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While the PDA described this as a ‘welcome development’, it also warned that patient safety in all areas would not improve unless the definition of NHS managers was broadened to include those responsible for all NHS services.

A statement from the PDA pointed out that while many thousands of pharmacists in the health system are employed by the NHS, thousands more are employed by private businesses that provide NHS services – such as owners of multiple GP practices or multiple community pharmacies.

'In those businesses, very senior managers can make decisions that impact patient safety in tens, or even hundreds, of locations and therefore have consequences for many thousands of patients,' the statement said.

'Such managers may control factors such as workload and resource allocation, deciding on systems and working practices, managing the organisation’s response to whistleblowing and other concerns, setting and enforcing targets and much more.'

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The PDA believes ‘some managers in each of these organisations’ should be included in the scope of regulation, and that it is a mistake by the government to limit legislation to those who are directly employed by the NHS.

The government response to the consultation, published last month, said there was ‘appetite’ among the 4,900-plus contributions to extend the scope of regulation to include primary care and the private sector.

However, it added that there was strong support for bringing a narrower cohort of managers into regulation, starting with senior NHS managers, and then rolling out to further levels of management over time, and to arm’s length bodies and ICBs, 'to ensure feasibility and quality of delivery'.

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Reiterating its call for the regulation of NHS managers to include any part of the health system where NHS services are delivered, the PDA said: 'It defies any sensible logic to claim that a manager needs to be regulated while employed by the NHS, but if their employer changes they would no longer need to be regulated, despite doing the same role.

‘It should be an individual’s potential impact on patients that determines if they should be regulated, not the name of the employer detailed in that person’s employment contract.'