The Health Care Professions Council

The Health Care Professions Council (HCPC) is a statutory regulator who regulate over 280,000 professionals from 15 health and care professions in the united kingdom.​

The HCPC'S main purpose is to protect the public

The following organisations are those that are listed on the HCPC register and have a protected titles:

The  Arts Therapists

Biomedical Scientists

Chiropodists / Podiatrists

Clinical Scientists

Dietitians

Hearing Aid Dispensers

Occupational Therapists

Operating Department Practitioners

Orthoptists

Paramedics

Physiotherapists

Practitioner Psychologists

Prosthetists / Orthotists

Radiographers

Speech and Language Therapists.

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There are organisations that claim that their members or governing bodies are HCPC registered, but this is not always the case.

The Society of Sports Therapists (SST) and The British Association of Sports Rehabilitators (Basrat) only accept university graduates and they do not recognise other outside qualifications unless they enrol on their own organisations training courses and they also claim to be HCPC registered. However, it is only the individuals within these organisation who hold physiotherapy degrees that have the protected HCPC titles as physiotherapists, not the sports, msk or rehabilitation therapists.

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The sports and rehabilitation therapists within these and other sports, remedial and rehabilitation bodies do not have protected titles, whether they are university graduates or not.

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Being members of the Professional Standards Authority (PSA) does not automatically give anyone HCPC accreditation nor does it give them the protected titles as some members of these organisations claim and believe that they are.

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Sports, Remedial and Physiotherapist are trained to a very high level to be able to assess, diagnose and carryout treatments but it is only qualified physiotherapists with their protected titles status that may work in the NHS as Sports Therapists. There are a few trusts that  do employ non HCPC sports and rehabilitators from these organisations as musculoskeletal (MSK) therapists. 

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Personally I would like to see the NHS taking on a lot more sports therapists in that roll or as MSK therapists, who are non university graduates and do not have to be on the PSA accredited register as there are other organisations that hold there own register, many of these organisations have very highly skilled and qualified therapists that would love to be able to support the NHS.