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The Protection of Vulnerable Adults scheme looks unlikely to be extended to cover NHS employees for at least another year, experts have warned.

Just days after the launch of Pova for the social care sector, it has been revealed that Department of Health officials are still yet to start on preliminary work on extending it to the NHS.

Under Pova, care providers in England and Wales are required to check that prospective employees are not on a list of people banned from working in a care home or as a domiciliary care worker and to pass onto the list details of staff who have left their employment as a result of being unsuitable.


Community care minister Stephen Ladyman said at the scheme's launch this week that he was aiming for it to cover health service employees by early next year. However, this would allow little time for a period of consultation and the drafting of new regulations when MPs return from the summer recess.

Frank Ursell, chief executive of the Registered Nursing Home Association, thought it likely that work would not begin on extending the scheme until after the party conferences in October or November.

"If that's the case, it is never going to start early next year," Ursell said, adding that it had taken nine months for Pova to be introduced for the care sector following its agreement at a meeting last October.


The DoH also admits it is unclear whether extending Pova will require secondary or primary legislation because of doubts over legal issues. If it is the latter, it will take even longer to extend the scheme.

One of the biggest stumbling blocks is how the scheme will cover the average annual intake of 39,000 junior doctors and 100,000 healthcare trainees.

The department wants to do one Pova check on these groups at the start of their training rather than each time they change their placement - in most cases every six months - because thousands moving at the same time would "cause the system to melt down", it said.