National Register for premises & practitioners
The Act requires that Local Authorities maintain and publish a register of all currently valid special procedure licences and premises/vehicle certificates that have been approved. This will be available to members of the public to view. Transitional licence and approval certificate will not be published on the national special procedure register for Wales.
The register is available here: https://www.specialprocedures.co.uk/
Infection Control Training
One of the requirements of the new scheme is that applicants must be able to provide evidence of their successful completion of a Level 2 Award in Infection Prevention and Control for Special Procedures Practitioners'. You must have passed this course before you apply. Existing infection control qualifications will not be accepted, unless they meet the requirements (regulated Level 2 RSPH course). Only courses affiliated to the Royal Society of Public Health (RSPH) will be accepted.
The course can be a traditional in-person course or online. For a full list of providers offering this qualification you can visit the Royal Society of Public Health RSPH website.
North Wales course providers:
A course is currently being offered by Coleg Llandrillo and if successfully completed meets this requirement. For further information, including course dates, locations and cost, you can visit the Coleg Llandrillo website.
For a full list of centres/providers offering this qualification you can visit the Royal Society of Public Health RSPH website.
Practitioners that are not resident in Wales
The new scheme is only applicable in Wales, however those practitioners who reside outside of Wales but work in Wales, will be required to comply with the new scheme. This will either require a temporary special procedure licence (if infrequent and no more than 7 days) or a three-year special procedure licence. In these circumstances, an application will be made to the local authority in which the non-resident practitioner intends to work, or where they will undertake most of their work if more than one local authority area.
Practitioners working in more than 1 Welsh Local Authority
A person will need to apply to the local authority within which they conduct their special procedures activities. If you practice in more than one local authority area (in Wales), you should apply to the local authority in which you conduct the majority of your special procedures. The special procedure licence, when issued, is valid for the whole of Wales, as long as there is a premises approval certificate granted and that these premises are listed/referenced on the practitioner's special procedures licence.
For temporary (7 days) special procedure licences, these will be limited to a specific event and/or timeframe. This will mean that a new application must be made for each separate event (unless the practitioner has a 3-year licence).
Public Health Wales newsletters & webinars
The Public Health Wales special procedures newsletters and webinar can be accessed on the Public Health Wales website.
Contact us
For any enquires regarding the special procedures licensing scheme, please email foodsafety-healthandsafety@conwy.gov.uk