Dear Melody,
The Council for Professions Allied to Medicine is a Statutory body, 
set up by act of law by Parliament which "regulates" (most) several 
of the professions sometimes called allied to and sometimes called 
"supplementary" to medicine.  Therefore physiotherapists, 
radiographers, speech therapists, chiropodists/podiatrists, etc etc 
are covered, as a a group called Medical Laboratory Scientific 
Officers(MLSOs) - Med Techs in the USA.  "Our Group" is not called 
MLSOs under the current legislation, but let's not worry about that 
for the moment.

"Our group" i.e. Med Tech equivalent, includes histotechnologists 
with exactly the same entry requirements (to the profession) as any 
other Med Tech, the same salary, terms and conditions of service.  
There is no equivalent to the "histotechnician" although all med 
techs are supported by "laboratory aids".. These latter have no 
formal qualifications or training (as yet!).

The Council for Professions Supplementary to Medicine "regulates" the 
profession by the maintenance of a Register of those who are 
Qualified to be our equivalent of Med Techs.  To get on the Register, 
you have to have a suitable qualification, have completed a course of 
in-lab training (which is recorded in a log-book) and passed an oral 
exam carried out by an external examiner.

To remain on the Register has, until now been easy.  you just behave 
yourself and make sure you do not drop any terrible "clangers"

Suitable qualifications  for entry are determined (assessed, agreed 
followng investigation, etc) by a Board made up of elected members of 
the profession(s).  There are "professional" Boards for each of the 
professions.

Overarching the Boards is the "Council" which is appointed by 
government to ensure appropriate and representative  membership, 
including  medical (pathologist, for example), lay and other sections 
of society.

In turn, the Privy Council - a tier of government probably unique to 
the UK (and perhaps its former colonies).  The Privey Council 
"advises" the government and is made up entirely of government 
appointees.  To be a "Privy Councillor" is an honour - a BIG one.

The Council is able to exert its effect by making it obligatory for 
all hospitals to use only "State Registered" staff for pathology 
investigations.  Let us, for these purposes, forget about lab aids 
and what they can and cannot do.  In fact anyone "buying"/using 
pathology services must do so only from labs employing State 
Registered staff, even private nursing homes, for example.

Private laboratories, espcially the reputable ones, only use state 
Registered staff for a variety of purposes, including - they believe 
in the system, it is considered a mark of quality, it wouold not help 
to hev employed unregistered staff in any litigation proceedings!

 This legislation is now some thiry years old and in 
the process of being repealed in favour of a new ACT.
The professions will have more autonomy under this Act, because the 
professional boards will disappear and advice will be sought directly 
from professional bodies (rather than elected individuals - who may 
or may not be members of, or represent the views of - the 
professional body.)
The overarching Council will include elected members of the 
professions; at present two from each profession.
A major difference with the new Act is that there will be criteria to 
be fulfilled to REMAIN on the REGISTER.  i.e. a system to demonstrate 
continuing competence to practice.  Most likely, this will be 
determined by professional bodies through schemes of continuing 
professional development and evidence of continuing competence 
(tested, in all probablitity, or at least formally logged)

Well done anyone who has slogged it thru to the end.  Any questions, 
please do not be afraid to e-mail me (unless you work in the UK and 
disagree with anything I've said!!)
Russ Allison, Wales