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A reminder of the role regulation can play – PSA response to NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan
13 Nov 2025
We have published our response to the call for evidence on the NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan. We highlight that regulation can play a vital role in achieving the three shifts outlined in the 10 Year Health Plan for England: fit for the future, from hospital to community, sickness to prevention and analogue to digital.
Regulation can often be seen as a barrier to innovation but, with the right planning, it can enable and contribute to workforce transformation. With its focus on harm prevention and maintaining public protection, it is also a useful mechanism for managing risk.
Other points we make in our response, include:
- A more strategic and consistent approach to how regulation will be used to support the three shifts should be an integral part of the development of 10 Year Workforce Plan. It would allow risks associated with workforce development to be addressed from the outset.
- There needs to be a unified and transparent approach to managing risk and preventing harm if the three shifts are to be achieved.
- Consideration of the wider workforce must also be at the heart of any workforce plan for the NHS. This should include registers that are part of the PSA’s Accredited Registers programme, which includes 28 registers covering a total of more than 130,000 practitioners. It provides assurance for employers and members of the public that practitioners on the registers are properly qualified and held to clear standards of practice.
- Regulation of Artificial Intelligence (AI) must be a key consideration, including ethical use of AI by professionals and clear lines of accountability. We believe that there needs to be a more coordinated approach to data and AI across the regulators of people, places and products.
- Although not the primary driver of improvements in culture and values, regulation has a role to play in developing a clear and proportionate regulatory framework which helps to create the right conditions for a healthy workplace culture, good leadership and better outcomes for staff and patients. There is also wider role for regulation in helping to support open learning cultures which are so important for safety within healthcare.
We expand on these points in our more detailed answers and you can find out more in our full response.
ENDS
Professional Standards Authority for Health and Social Care
Contact: media@professionalstandards.org.uk
Notes to the editor
- 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. We share good practice, knowledge and our right-touch regulation expertise.
- The PSA has legal powers to accredit non-statutory registers if they can meet its standards and it is in the public interest to accredit the register. These standards assess that the register operates effectively to protect the public.
- The PSA also conducts and promotes 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.
- Our values are – integrity, transparency, respect, fairness and teamwork – and we strive to ensure that they are at the core of our work.