The Health Practice Associates Council is the United Kingdom’s regulatory body for pre-hospital urgent and emergency clinical responders in non-statutory grades. As a non-profit organisation, we work with key stakeholders across the UK and seek the registration of clinicians who meet our standards in skills, training, conduct, and health to uphold public safety.

CQC, Disclosure & Barring Service, National Police Chief's Council, NHS Safeguarding, and the Independent Ambulance Association recognises the Health Practice Associates register in supporting the safe recruitment of non-paramedic ambulance clinicians.

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Application Requirements

Our registration team check and verify each applicant's qualifications, identity, and background before approval. This comprehensive process includes a full five-point enhanced DBS check, which is subsequently registered with the update service and monitored in real-time by our safeguarding system. Additionally, we collect evidence of statutory and mandatory training, as well as Continuing Professional Development (CPD). Our team and system monitor and support registrants' compliance to ensure adherence to all required standards.

View HPAC Grades Framework

Nationwide Police Engagement

The HPAC is signposted nationwide in all police custody suites in the country as the non-paramedic referral pathway. This arrangement is based on the principles of common law disclosure and helps to rapidly identify and alert service providers of new risks to patients, staff, the public and employers. The council regularly shares intelligence with police forces in bilateral information exchanges when dealing with referrals and fitness to practice investigations. This helps both law enforcement and HPAC to better serve and protect citizens, staff, and employers through regulatory compliance.

Engagement with the Disclosure & Barring Service (DBS)

We revalidate all DBS certificates on a daily basis, ensuring we hold the most up to date Enhanced DBS information on all our registrants. Registrants can readily prove that their DBS has been revalidated by scanning their ID cards. HPAC also shares details of relevant referrals that we receive with the DBS. Details of our investigations, including registrant compliance with the fitness to practice process and outcomes, provide valuable insight for the Barring Service when assessing individuals.

HPAC is included in the DBS' safeguarding landscape as represented in the image below.

Slide provided by DBS to HPAC for dissemination

Why is HPAC needed?

There are up to 30,000 face-to-face pre-hospital patient contacts per day in the UK made by ambulance staff wearing the trusted green uniform. Did you know that in the UK only 50% of frontline ambulance staff are regulated by statute? Whilst the vast majority of clinicians are safe, patient-centred, extremely caring individuals, sadly, as in all areas, some pose a genuine risk to patient and staff safety. We believe that with the support of like-minded stakeholders, using a non-statutory approach, we can bridge this gap in regulation.

All patients and staff deserve to be safe.

Support regulation compliance, reduce risk being passed on or inherited.

HERE

There is no good reason for the UK not to pursue the same safeguarding standards as Ireland and the USA. It's time to catch up and regulate 100% of patient-facing ambulance staff.

Who is registered and how much does it cost?

£79.50 per year

There is a registration fee of £79.50 per year, which is applied automatically every twelve months on the renewal date, OR £12.99 per month, which can be cancelled at any time. A high-quality driver's licence-style ID card with multiple security features, including NFC instant DBS status check (revalidated every 24 hours). If an applicant is not on the update service, a fresh DBS check will be run at no additional cost (subsequent DBS checks or replacement ID cards may carry an extra charge).

Regulated Grades

Grade
First Aiders (FA)
Emergency First Responders (EFR)
Ambulance Care Assistants (ACA)
Emergency Care Assistants (ECA)
Ambulance Technicians (EMT)
HPAC registered EMTs are IHCD BTEC L3 equivalent, FREUC 5 or higher
Associate Ambulance Practitioners (AAP)
HSE Offshore Medics (OSM)

Before applying to register, please click here to ensure you understand how we map our grades and what training/qualifications are required for each.

Employers can support the register by enrolling here | Clinicians can apply for registration here | Media enquiries: [email protected] | Public enquiries: click here | Make a donation here

Email: [email protected] | [email protected] | Tel: 0208 0048226 (Tues - Fri, 10am - 4pm)
The Health Practice Associates Council is a Community Interest Company (CIC) registered in England and Wales, company number 10830551, and is regulated by the Information Commissioner's Office and the Office of the Regulator of Community Interest Companies.

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Regulated Grades