PSA publishes guidance to share good practice on how regulators are working to address health inequalities

31 Jul 2025

Today, the PSA is publishing Lessons from meeting our EDI Standard for regulators – good practice guidance. 

Persistent inequalities in health and social care continue to affect both the public and professionals. Patients and service users from some groups experience unfairness in terms of access to health and care services, treatment outcomes, and barriers in raising concerns or seeking redress. At the same time, professionals from some groups continue to be disproportionately subject to complaints, referrals, and regulatory sanctions. These disparities undermine public confidence, compromise fairness, and risk perpetuating structural disadvantage. 

By publishing this guidance, the PSA hopes to showcase examples from across the regulators it oversees: highlighting a range of work they are undertaking to embed equality, diversity and inclusion across their regulatory functions. The report is based on examples of good practice identified through the PSA’s 2023/24 performance reviews.

Amanda Partington-Todd, the PSA’s Interim Director of Regulation and Accreditation, said:

“While we recognise that these challenges are complex and deep-rooted, regulators have a unique and influential role in helping to tackle inequality by ensuring that their processes are fair and inclusive, and by using their position to lead and influence change. For our part, we have changed the way we assess the performance of regulators to raise our expectations over time and support improvement by identifying and sharing good practice. This guidance is part of our work to help address those challenges. Although we have already seen encouraging signs of progress, real change will require long-term commitment and sustained effort.”

The PSA recognises that there is no single approach that will be right for every regulator or every context. This guidance is not intended to prescribe specific actions but is intended as a way of sharing ideas and highlighting emerging practices that others may wish to consider or adapt in their own work.

ENDS

Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care

Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk

Lessons for regulators on meeting the EDI Standard - good practice guide

Notes to the editor

  1. The Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care (PSA) is the UK’s oversight body for the regulation of people working in health and social care. Our statutory remit, independence and expertise underpin our commitment to the safety of patients and service-users, and to the protection of the public. There are 10 organisations that regulate health professionals in the UK and social workers in England by law. We audit their performance and review their decisions on practitioners’ fitness to practise. We also accredit and set standards for organisations holding registers of health and care practitioners not regulated by law. We collaborate with all of these organisations to improve standards.
  2. We share good practice, knowledge and our right-touch regulation expertise. We also conduct and promote research on regulation. We monitor policy developments in the UK and internationally, providing guidance to governments and stakeholders. Through our UK and international consultancy, we share our expertise and broaden our regulatory insights.
  3. Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work. 
Find out more about our work and the approach we take