Protecting Vulnerable Groups scheme launch

16 July 2010

HEALTHCARE professionals in Scotland will have to conform to new rules protecting vulnerable people from November 30, the government has announced.

The Protecting Vulnerable Groups Scheme (PVG Scheme) will come into effect later this year and replaces the current disclosure arrangements for all people who work with vulnerable groups. It will be phased in over four years to minimise disruption for employers.

The Scottish Government has confirmed the PVG Scheme will go ahead as planned, despite a review of similar legislation – the Vetting and Barring Scheme – in the rest of the UK. The PVG is similar to the Vetting and Barring Scheme but only applies to people in Scotland who work with vulnerable groups. It doesn’t apply to personal arrangements that people make with friends or family or to work positions where there is no opportunity to cause harm to vulnerable groups.

The delivery of medical and dental care qualifies as a “regulated activity” and all healthcare professionals will eventually need to register.

From November 30, healthcare workers should be invited to join the PVG Scheme by their employers only when they start a new job. Some employers may invite existing employees to join if they would normally re-check workers from time to time. Those who are self-employed, the government said, “may wish to join the PVG Scheme in order to demonstrate to clients that you are not unsuitable to do regulated work.”

Other employees will be invited to join the scheme as it is phased in over the next four years.

The GDC is advising its members to keep up to date on the PVG Scheme and said it would have a “legal obligation to share information about GDC registrants” with those operating the scheme.

For more information, read about the PVG Scheme on the Scottish Government’s website here

Or read the information leaflet here