The road to regulatory reform - key milestones

Regulation of professions as we know it has evolved in a piecemeal fashion over the past 150 years. From medieval guilds to the emergence of Victorian-era professional bodies focusing as much on the interests of the trade as on the quality of the service.

So how did we get to where we are now?

Here are some of the key milestones that have shaped regulation as we know it today (click each date and heading to find out more about the key events):

Alongside other key events during this period, the Kennedy Report into failings in children’s heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary led to significant reforms. This included the creation of the Council for the Regulation of Health Professionals (predecessor body to the Authority), to coordinate the regulators and ensure greater focus on the public interest. The report also recommended a duty of candour for professionals.

Find out more:

Read our full account of regulatory reform over the last 20 years
Read the Kennedy Report
Read our short report on What has been achieved in professional regulation?

Strong criticism of regulation arising from the report into Harold Shipman’s crimes established the importance of lay involvement in the fitness to practise process, the separation of investigation and adjudication and the need for ongoing competence checks which lead to the introduction of revalidation for doctors.

Find out more:

Read our full document on the key milestone in regulatory reform over the last year
Read the Shipman Inquiry report

Government White Paper Enabling Excellence is published drawing on right-touch regulation principles (influenced by the Better Regulation agenda) and leading to the creation of the Accredited registers. Structural change to the NHS occurs, however, the Law Commissions’ Bill to simplify professional regulation is not taken forward. The Francis Report into the failings at Mid-Staffs criticises the fragmented nature of the regulatory system and leads to the introduction of the duty of candour.

Find out more

The Authority and all regulators are given the overarching objective of public protection. Government announces reforms based on Rethinking regulation and the Law Commissions’ proposals. The Government response to the reform consultation is published in 2019 outlining reforms to regulators’ fitness to practise processes, governance and rulemaking powers.

Find out more:

Work on proposals for regulatory reform continues with the background of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Paterson and Cumberlege reports both describe a fragmented regulatory system with patient safety concerns falling through the gaps and the patient voice being lost.

Find out more:

Find out more

Read our full document explaining in more detail the developments and changes in regulatory reform over the last 20 years:

What is right-touch regulation?

Find out more about the principles that sit behind right-touch regulation or read through our right-touch publications to find out more.

Read our short report

What has been achieved in professional regulation? This was our short report looking back at key developments and our work.

The road to regulatory reform - key milestones

So how did we get to where we are now?

1998-2004 - into the modern era: the Kennedy reforms

Find out more:

2004-2010 - from self-regulation to shared regulation: post-Shipman reforms

Find out more:

2010-2015- the NHS is redesigned, but regulatory reform stalls

Find out more

2015-2020 - Rethinking regulation

Find out more:

2020+ - watch this space

Find out more:

Find out more

What is right-touch regulation?

Read our short report

What we do

Select Language

Our Location