VIDEO: Are you sure your health or care professional is registered?

In recent years the standard of care in care and nursing homes, hospitals and in high street clinics across the UK has come under intense scrutiny.

But the Health and Care Professions Council is urging patients, their families and health and care providers as well as employers to exercise their power to make sure they check the health or care professional they use is in fact registered.

There are hundreds of thousands of health and care professionals working in care homes, hospitals and high street clinics across the UK, yet worryingly not all of these so-called professionals are registered.

The HCPC is keen to educate the public, especially older people who are likely to be receiving care but have low awareness of the regulations in place to protect them and make sure they are being treated by a registered and qualified professional.

Crucially, using one of the 300,000 HCPC registered professionals gives peace of mind to patients so that on the very rare occasion that care standards are not met, the HCPC can take swift action if they are a danger to the public.

There are 400,000 care home residents in the UK, with 3.8 million older people living at home and the HCPC investigates many cases per year, with some involving the elderly.

Watch the following video to see what can go wrong when receiving treatment and who to turn to for peace of mind.