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PPB Annual Review 2007

Martin Crawshaw (Chair, Professional Practice Board)

The Professional Practice Board (PPB) aims to promote and enhance professional practice in applied psychology. It provides a forum for cross-Divisional debate and collaborative work.

This has been a demanding year for psychologists in professional practice. It is my third year as Chair and I continue to be impressed by the amount of work undertaken and results achieved by members and staff. The PPB, its standing committees and its working parties have been very productive this year.

Statutory Regulation

The Board has been keeping a close watchful eye on the developments towards statutory regulation, receiving feedback from the Board of Trustees and a member of the Professional Liaison Group. During the Board’s strategy day the potential impact of the Health Professions Council was debated. The Board’s view was that change must be embraced and statutory regulation presented an opportunity to launch the profession into the public domain.

New Ways of Working for Applied Psychology (NWWAP)

The Professional Practice Board sponsored the NWW for Applied Psychologists Conference, which was held on 20 July 2007 at Walkers Stadium in Leicester. Issues covered included: Training models, Improving Access to Psychological Therapies, Leadership, Team Working, and New Roles. This was a major undertaking with 50 applied psychologists hearing keynote presentations from Professor Tony Lavender and Roslyn Hope from Care Services Improvement Partnership (CSIP).

In conjunction with the above the Board published a number of important reports, including: New Ways of Working for Applied Psychologists in Health and Social Care: The End of the Beginning, Summary Report. Together with this, the Board published the individual work stream reports on:

• New Roles
• Organising, Managing and Leading Psychological Services
• Working Psychologically in Teams
• Models of Training
• Career Pathways and Roles
• Good Practice Guide on the Contribution of Applied Psychologists to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies

Furthermore, Summary Reports for Working Psychologically in Teams, and Good Practice Guide on the Contribution of Applied Psychologists to Improving Access to Psychological Therapies have been produced. These are now all available via the Board’s website. Printed copies of the Summary Report have been distributed to Heigher Education Instituations (HEIs), Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs) and Professional Training Centres (PTCs). For more details see New Ways of Working for Applied Psychology.

Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT)

The Board has monitored the development of the IAPT programme, including the further development of the pathfinder sites, the push for third sector involvement from either independent or voluntary groups and the focus on stepped care with low intensity interventions and outcomes. PPB has welcomed the government’s three year funding package of over £300 million for the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies Programme. For more details see Improving Access to Psychological Therapies.

PPB Social Inclusion Seminar

Social Inclusion is a relatively new venture for the Board, however, 45 applied psychologists attended the Board’s Social Inclusion seminar in October. Keynote speakers included Naomi Eisenstadt, Director of the Social Exclusion Task Force on ‘SETF Key Areas of Work’, David Carew from the Department of Work and Pensions on ‘Health, Work and Social Inclusion’, and David Morris on the work of ‘The National Social Inclusion Programme’.

During the afternoon psychologists described some of the work they had been conducting in the community including: Working with young people to challenge discrimination against mental health service users; the work of a low income and health team; working with mothers of young children; migrant workers, refugees and asylum seekers; young people in deprived areas; prisoners; and how an NHS Trust can measure social inclusion. For more information see the PPB web pages.

Mental Health Act 2007

After a long and troubled gestation, the Mental Health Act - the revisions to the 1983 Act - received Royal Assent in July. The progress of the Act through Parliament was stormy, but the outcome is very positive. Many of the safeguards wanted by campaigners and professionals were eventually adopted - a right to advocacy, a recognition that treatment should be of 'therapeutic benefit', a right to 'least restrictive' care, a right to age-appropriate care for young people. It is true that an additional clause - restricting compulsion to people who were unable to make appropriate decisions for themselves - was not included, but these safeguards are welcome.

The new Mental Health Act will permit 'community treatment orders' and will also introduce two new roles; the AMHP (Approved Mental Health Practitioner) who will replace the Approved Social Worker and the Responsible Clinician who will replace the Responsible Medical Officer. It is highly significant that professions such as nursing and psychology, in addition to medicine, will fill this latter role. It is also of note that, following a last-minute amendment, all decisions made by a Responsible Clinician will have to be ratified by a colleague "... from a profession other than that of the Responsible Clinician...". For the first time, in law the professional in charge of compulsory mental health care will be accountable to, or at least be required to consult with, other professions, a very positive outcome indeed.

The Society’s Mental Health Act Working Party continues to be active following the Assent to the Mental Health Act. Current work includes liaison with the Mental Health Coalition, and raising issues principally related to the new roles: Responsible Clinician and Approved Mental Health Practitioner.

Working Parties

A considerable body of work has been undertaken by the Board’s working parties, as indicated below, some jointly undertaken with the Research Board. Working Parties are a means of building bridges between the Society’s Divisions. This year has seen significant growth in our working parties and accordingly the support provided by the Board’s support team.

The Board expects to receive a number of guidelines for approval in early 2008 including: End of Life Care: The Role of Psychologists; a resource document for psychologists working in the field of Disaster, Crisis and Trauma; guidelines on the Assessment of Effort in Cognitive Assessment and revised guidelines for Penile Plethysmography Usage.

Working parties considering the Effects of Exposure to Pornography (Joint with Research Board), and Psychological Assessment and Understanding of Terrorists / Politically Motivated Offending will commence in the spring of 2008.

Publications

In collaboration with the Royal College of Psychiatry and the Department of Health, the Board’s Mental Capacity Act Working Party has produced a leaflet entitled Mental Capacity Act 2005: A Short Reference Guide for Psychologists and Psychiatrists.

The Child Protection Portfolio and a revision to the Child Protection Position Paper have been published. A letter from me as Chair of PPB went into the May edition of The Psychologist alerting members to the importance of these documents.

The Board has approved a set of Generic Professional Practice Guidelines, to define good psychological practice, based upon assessment, formulation of solutions, intervention or implementation. The guidelines have been developed for broad application across the full range of professional psychologists.

The Expert Witness working party has produced a set of revised guidelines entitled Psychologists as Expert Witnesses: Guidelines and Procedures for England and Wales.

All the Board’s reports, guidelines and position papers are available from PPB publications.

Private Practitioners Forum

The Board established an electronic forum for psychologists in private practice. From very humble beginnings the forum now has over 200 members who engage in lively debate on topics such as: expert witness reports, tax and the inland revenue, how to attract more referrals and much more. There is a real community spirit fostered by collegial support. Contact Nigel.Atter@bps.org.uk if you wish to join.

The Standing Committee for Psychologists in Health and Social Care (SCPHSC)

SCPHSC continues to work collaboratively with the National Institute for Mental Health in England raising psychological workforce issues related to Social Inclusion, Psychological Services in Prisons and also Child and Adult Mental Health Services. SCPHSC also identified funding threats to psychological services and progress on NWWAP and the Improving Access to Psychological Therapies (IAPT) programme.

Workforce Planning Advisors Standing Committee (WPASC)

The Workforce Planning Advisors Standing Committee provides advice about workforce planning related to applied psychologists in the NHS. WPASC engages with the Workforce Review Team’s annual review of workforce demand and responses particularly in relation to psychology.

Centre for Outcomes Research and Effectiveness (CORE)

CORE continues its work on systematic reviews and guidelines; measuring and monitoring outcomes; evaluating evidence-based practice in health services; and evaluating new services and roles arising from policy initiatives. This year the Society published the NICE clinical guidelines on Antenatal and Postnatal Mental Health: The NICE Guideline on Clinical Management and Service Guidance; and Dementia: The NICE-SCIE Guideline on Supporting People with Dementia and Their Carers in Health and Social Care, with the Royal College of Psychiatrists. View all CORE/NICE Guidelines.

The Psychological Test Centre (PTC)

The PTC had another successful year in 2007. Work has progressed on a number of fronts relating to the harmonisation of qualifications in test use. This endeavours to pull together the revised Level A and B Occupational Standards with progress in both the educational and health-related fields. New working groups have been set up to progress test user qualifications in health-related settings. We are also closely involved in developments taking place in Europe (through EFPA) and internationally (through ISO) to ensure that our test user qualification procedures will be internationally recognised and future-proof.

The PTC continues to move towards a state where having one’s name on the Register of Competence in Psychological Testing becomes a recognised hallmark for quality and competence. The value of the Register was enhanced by providing members with free access to test reviews.

Furthermore, the PTC has seen progress in the broadening of the test reviews to cover instruments used in educational settings. In 2007 PTC introduced a licence for publishers to distribute their test reviews;, and re-launched the new PTC website and the PTC web logo.

PTC staff promoted the work of the Society at a number of conferences in the UK, including DOP Annual Conference, CIPD HRD conference in April, Nasen TES, World of Learning and E-Assessment Conference. The PTC was also represented by Dr Pat Lindley at a British Council sponsored conference on psychometrics in Bahrain. For further information see the PTC website.

National Assessors Group

After a period of consolidation following the modernisation of the Health Service, the National Assessors continue to provide a service to employers in the recruitment and selection of applied psychologists, ensuring that professional standards are maintained to the highest level. National Assessors undergo regular training provided by the Society and adhere to a set of best practice guidelines in recruitment and selection. Guidance aimed at employers on the use of National Assessors is also available and this information can be found on the National Assessors home page on the Society's website.

Consultations

Members have contributed to a great variety of consultations from Government, NGOs, NICE and others. Members’ generosity of time and expertise is plainly evident in the 120 or so Board responses to consultations this year.

2007 PPB Awards

I am delighted to announce that the 2007 award winner for Distinguished Contributions to Professional Psychology is Dr Tommy MacKay and the award winner for Lifetime Achievement is Joan Freeman.

Acknowledgements

I must extend my thanks to all contributors to the Board’s work but especially to the Board’s members. Nigel Atter, assisted first by Liz Beech and latterly by Zoë Timson deserve the highest praise for their help in advising and supporting the Board and I thank and commend them.