Professional registration checks before you start in the NHS

If your job needs registration with a professional regulator, the NHS employer must check it before you are allowed to start. That means a look at your entry on the register, any restrictions on it, any fitness to practise investigations still open, and a search of the healthcare professional alert notice system. It is one of several checks that follow a conditional offer.

What the employer checks

NHS organisations in England follow the standard set by NHS Employers. Before your first day the employer must confirm three things:

• you are the person on the register
• there are no restrictions on your registration that would affect the duties of the job
• there are no pending fitness to practise investigations that the employer has to take into account

The standard lists eight regulators: the General Medical Council, General Dental Council, Nursing and Midwifery Council, General Optical Council, Health and Care Professions Council, General Chiropractic Council, General Pharmaceutical Council and General Osteopathic Council. Nurses and midwives are on the NMC register (see NMC revalidation), most allied health professionals are on the HCPC register (see HCPC registration), and doctors are on the GMC register.

What you need to provide

The employer needs your registration number and your consent before it can check your registration and fitness to practise. Put the number on your application form or give it as soon as you are asked, because a missing number can cost days. If your registration is renewing or being transferred, say so early so the recruiter can plan around it.

The standard states that checking registration does not guarantee suitability for a role. Employers still run the other checks: identity, right to work, references, criminal record and the work health assessment.

The alert notice check

Employers must also check that no information is held about you on the healthcare professional alert notice (HPAN) system. NHS Resolution issues these notices to tell NHS bodies, and others providing services to the NHS, about registered professionals whose conduct or practice would pose a significant risk of harm to patients, staff or the public. Notices can also flag someone who falsely claims to be a healthcare professional.

If a notice exists, the employer has to look at whether there are any restrictions that would stop you doing the duties of the job, and it has to do this before you take up the post. Most candidates are never affected, but the check is part of the standard for registered professionals.

Unregistered roles and Accredited Registers

Some roles are not regulated by law. The Professional Standards Authority runs an Accredited Registers programme for practitioners in those roles, and the standard says employers should carry out the same level of checks on someone listed there as on anyone on a statutory register. For some psychological professional roles that are not regulated by law, NHS organisations are starting to make registration with a specific Accredited Register a condition of employment. The job advert or person specification should say if that applies.

Keeping registration live

Where it is relevant to the job, employers should make it a contractual condition that you keep your registration for the whole of your employment. They should also have a way to respond if a regulator takes action that affects you. A lapse in registration can therefore affect your contract, so put renewal dates in your diary.

Qualification checks are separate

The same NHS Employers standard also covers qualifications. For registered professionals the regulator checks that you hold the qualifications needed to be on the register, so the employer does not normally repeat that. It does still check any other qualification the job lists as essential, as set out in qualification checks before you start.

What to check

• Your registration number is correct and your name on the register matches your application.
• Any renewal fee or revalidation date falls well before your start date.
• You have told the recruiter about anything that might appear on a fitness to practise record, so it does not arrive as a surprise.
• Your offer letter says which checks are outstanding. The pre-employment checks guide lists the full set.

Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland run their own versions of employment checks, so check your health board or trust’s guidance if you are applying outside England.