College Connection

Right-touch Regulation Fall 2015 Vol. 31 No. 3 ISSN 0821-6320 Good regulators support professionalism Harry Cayton Good professionals reflect on their own practise; they ask themselves, did I do that right, could I do it better, what can I learn from my mistakes? Good regulators do the same. They are committed to reflective regulation, to remembering they are there to support professionalism not to replace it with rules. Right-touch regulation is a way of thinking about the regulatory task. It doesn’t provide the solution to a regulatory problem but it does provide a systematic approach to the way regulators should go about their work. Five years ago the Professional Standards Authority in the UK published Right-touch regulation. It was a response to a growing sense that the UK burden of regulation wasn’t directed in the right places or in the right way. The banking crisis had shown us that light touch regulation had failed and the scandal of poor care in a Mid Staffordshire hospital that multiple regulators and numerous inspections could still miss the point. Right-touch regulation is a way of thinking about the regulatory task. It doesn’t provide the solution to a regulatory problem but it does provide a systematic approach to the way regulators should go about their work. Since 2010 it has been widely used and found useful by regulators around the world. Its principles have been adopted by the regulators of nurses in British Columbia, doctors in Ireland, the Human Tissue Authority in the UK and the Health Practitioners Regulatory Agency in Australia amongst many others. In August 2015, a revised edition of Righttouch regulation was published. Having learned from those who have used it, having identified some gaps, as well as finding that the overall framework has stood up well to scrutiny and practical application, opportunity to continue to strengthen the model existed. In particular this next version develops thinking FEATURED Your guide to policy This issue of College Connection explores College policy initiatives. The College welcomes your feedback on College Connection! about how to evaluate risk, drawing on the recent work of Malcom Sparrow at Harvard. So what are the enduring principles of Righttouch regulation? They are: • Identify the problem before the solution • Quantify and qualify the risks • Get as close to the problem as possible • Focus on the outcome • Use regulation only when necessary • Keep it simple • Check for unintended consequences • Review and respond to change. continued on next page CONTENTS Legislative Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Policy Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 Learning in Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Legislative Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Regulatory Changes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 GF2 Project Update . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Strengthening the veterinary profession through quality practice and public accountability. www.cvo.org