Dear Ralph

Actually you have a provision in your Articles for admitting the grand-
parented clinician into the Society, but not in the way that you describe.
It is irrelevant whether the HPC changes the registration criteria, as they
have done. If your rules do not permit membership then you have to change
them and to do so you need to consult and seek approval of membership. The
last time this was done is when you changed the provision for Student and
Associate Members.

(Section 11)

An associate may be admitted as an associate member of the Society and
shall be accorded such rights and privileges as the Council may from time
to time by resolution or by-law, rules or regulations determine or
provide.  An associate member shall not be a Member and shall not be
entitled to receive notice of or vote at General Meetings of the Society.

  (iv) For the purposes of this Article an associate shall
be any person who is:-

(aa) eligible to apply and has applied for admission to the register
under article 9(1) of the Health Professions Order 2001 (Statutory
Instrument 2002 No.254) (the “Health Professions Order”) under the
transitional provisions set out in paragraph 13(2)(a) of the Health
Professions Order which are that for a period of at least three out of the
five years (or its equivalent on a part time basis) immediately preceding
the date of coming into force of an order made under article 6(1) of the
Health Professions Order which relates to Chiropody or Podiatry he has been
wholly or mainly engaged in the lawful, safe and effective practice of
Chiropody or Podiatry to the satisfaction of the Education and Training
Committee (as such term is defined within The Health Professions Order) and
that he successfully passes any test of competence that the Education and
Training Committee may require him to take;



As I read this and the various minutes of Council I am given the impression
that the Society would admit the grand-parented clinician on an associate
basis and then seek to improve them on a ‘skills escalator’ until they were
deemed sufficiently competent to undertake a membership examination. Then
and only then could they be offered full membership.

I think this position had some merit. You had in place some form of scheme
that would monitor competency, even taking into account the reality of the
situation. And on that basis it could have been sold to the existing
members, although some would still find it unpalatable.

What changed was the decision to offer FULL membership to those people at
first application with no transitionary process to ensure competency and
suitability of practice (as specified by your Articles). Therein lies your
problem. You obviously have a different interpretation of your Articles
than I do, hence your decision to relax the membership conditions and that
is your right. But the more cynical within the podiatric community (and
they are a growing band) may take the view that you (collectively) did not
change the Articles because you did not want to inform the membership – for
obvious reasons.

Unfortunately, as I pointed out at the start of this debate, your decision
impacts on all our professional lives. We cannot take a principled stance
against the HPC because the Society effectively legitimises its flawed
procedures and this makes the possibility of an independent registrar even
more difficult to secure. But the most damaging aspect of this whole
business has been the impact it has had on the ordinary practitioner who
has been kept ignorant of important changes to the professional landscape
at a time of major change. You wrote to Alan Crawford the other day saying;

<< The whole question of debate, which you raise, is only partly about
information, it is much more about apathy>>

I might agree with you there. But maybe you could ask yourself why apathy
reigns supreme. I suggest for the answers, you look back carefully what has
been written these past few days.

With best wishes


Mark Russell

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