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British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA)


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Founded in 1917, BHTA has been instrumental in championing better healthcare for over 100 years. BHTA has grown to become one of the largest healthcare associations in the UK. It now represents over 400 companies, employing 18,500 people, across 12 key sectors of the healthcare and assistive technologies industry.

BHTA brings together leading manufacturers, suppliers, distributors and service providers to improve UK health and wellbeing; support healthcare systems and services; and protect consumers' interests. Through interaction and engagement with regulatory and standards-setting bodies, both domestic and international, BHTA is at the forefront of improving standards for the provision of quality healthcare and assistive technology products and services.

The estimated £3.7bn/year of essential products and services BHTA members supply to NHS and social care settings are integral to the delivery of healthcare across the UK. BHTA members also provide important assistive and independent living technologies directly to consumers, helping to reduce the ever-growing pressures on public health and social care services.

Search for a BHTA Member (ext. website)


 CERTIFIED 

Approved Code of Practice

This is to certify that the published Consumer Code of Practice of the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) was officially granted APPROVED CODE status in TBC. Since then, the relevant provisions, processes and procedures have been continuously monitored and regularly audited by the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) - the representative body of the UK Trading Standards profession, since 1881, and one of the primary Government-endorsed consumer protection bodies in the United Kingdom - operating on behalf of the Approved Code Scheme (see Code Audit Record, below).

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Approved Code Registry :

Code Sector Healthcare and mobility
Code of Practice Click here to view (pdf opens in new tab)
Year of Approval 2013
Members 347 (Oct 2024)
Last Audited October 2023
Code Audit Record BHTA Audit 2023 (pdf opens in new tab)


More about the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA)


VERIFY A COMPANY : If you want to check that a business displaying the Approved Code Scheme logo is genuinely a member of the scheme, please enter their details in the search box at the top of the page (or use the main search box on the Homepage).


The BHTA Code of Practice


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For over 100 years, the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA) has brought together hundreds of organisations across the healthcare and assistive technologies industry to facilitate business, raise industry standards and protect consumers. BHTA seeks to bring the industry together to support and improve the health and care of the nation. BHTA and its members continue to come together to help the industry overcome the challenges it faces. 

The BHTA Code of Practice is an approved Code under the Chartered Trading Standards Institute (CTSI) Consumer Codes Approval Scheme. This means Code Members have the right to display the combined BHTA Approved Code logos and customers can be confident they will be treated fairly. The BHTA Code is the only Trading Standards approved code in the healthcare sector.

The Code is reviewed regularly, with input from external organisations.

By entering into their BHTA Membership Agreement, every member commits to the Code. Membership of BHTA and adherence to the Code shows customers, suppliers and employees that BHTA members’ businesses operate to higher standards of customer protection then the law requires.

Read The BHTA Code of Practice

When buying healthcare and assistive technology products and services, BHTA understand just how important it is that consumers – especially those with vulnerabilities – can trust in the business to which they have turned for help. To protect consumers, and raise standards in the industry sector, BHTA created a Code of Practice.

The Code is at the heart of BHTA. It sets out rigorous rules to which BHTA members commit, giving confidence that the companies from which consumers buy are ethical and trustworthy. Importantly, being a member of the BHTA is not mandatory; it is a commitment that companies who believe in going above and beyond make for their customers.

By choosing a BHTA member, consumers can be confident that their best interests are at the heart of advice the company gives, products they sell, and services they provide.

The BHTA Code of Practice is made up of expectations, standards, and guidance outlining the policies and practices BHTA members uphold.

These include:

  • Introduction
  • Principles and objectives
  • Treating customers fairly
  • Advertising and marketing
  • Conduct of staff
  • Training of staff / ongoing development
  • Publicising Code membership to customers
  • Pre-contractual and point of sale information
  • Cancellation rights / protection of deposits
  • Deposits
  • Adverse incident reporting
  • Product recalls and safety warnings
  • Clauses relating to commercial business / relationships
  • Placing products on the market in the UK and EU
  • Selling training
  • Selling / providing services to authorities
  • Dispensing of prescription appliances
  • Complaint handling
  • Sanctions / disciplinary action
  • Disciplinary committee
  • Monitoring
  • Useful contacts
  • List of annexes and definitions
  • Annex 1 – Consumer vulnerability
  • Annex 2 – Off-premises sales
  • Annex 3 – Consumer Rights Act 2015
  • Annex 4 – Consumer fairness
  • Annex 5 – After sales services
  • Annex 6 – Cancellation rights
  • Annex 7 – BHTA complaints procedure

BHTA represents companies responsible for the design, production and distribution of healthcare and assistive technologies (including medical devices, acute and community care products, independent living technologies / products, and associated services) across 12 areas.

These 12 areas are:

  • Beds and support surfaces
  • Pressure care, seating and positioning
  • Children's equipment
  • Decontamination and infection prevention
  • Dispensing appliance contractors
  • Stoma and continence product manufacturers
  • First aid medical equipment
  • Independent living
  • Mobility
  • Orthotics
  • Prosthetics
  • Stairlifts and access

At joining, BHTA carries out a thorough analysis of every prospective member company before admitting the company to BHTA membership.

This includes:

  • Discussion with senior management
  • Research in news sources for media coverage of company and its conduct
  • Research in review / complaint sources for consumer and other-business interactions
  • Research in BHTA historical records for company and its conduct
  • Analyses of:
    • Terms and conditions
    • Website
    • Social media channels
    • Credit history
    • Companies House records
    • Company accounts
    • FSA records
    • ASA records
  • Confirmation of other / additional trade association memberships or registrations
  • Analysis of company's policies and practices vis-à-vis the BHTA Code

At regular intervals, BHTA carries out checks to confirm continued compliance, re-verify information supplied at joining, and account for any changes / updates to companies' business activities. This is done using Compliance Checklists, followed by further interviews / company visits if necessary.

Where applicable, BHTA may also rely on independent retail experience assessments (e.g. mystery shopping) and/or customer satisfaction survey data.

In the infrequent instances where a company's breach of the BHTA Code is serious or repeated, BHTA carries out Disciplinary Action. Possible outcomes of this process are:

  • No further action
  • Company required to undertake a specified course of remedial action (e.g. re-training of a particular salesperson)
  • Company issued with a formal warning
  • Company incurs a financial penalty (relating to the amount of work incurred by BHTA and/or the Independent Arbitrator regarding a complaint, the cost of the Disciplinary Action process, and/or the nature of the breach)
  • Company is suspended for a stated period from BHTA (and the register of companies signed up to the Code)
  • Company is expelled from BHTA membership

See the BHTA website for further information.


Disputes and Complaints


As a consumer, if you ever enter into a dispute with a business that is a member of the British Healthcare Trades Association, the business must offer you Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR). This is a simpler, cheaper and faster alternative to going to Court. And the adjudications of the independent ADR body are binding on the business (although you are still free to go to Court afterwards).

Offering customers ADR is a mandatory and non-negotiable requirement for membership of the Approved Code Scheme - ensuring that only the best, most customer-centric businesses remain in the scheme. It also acts as a powerful incentive for any member business to treat you with respect, courtesy and fairness, at all times.


BHTA's Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) : 

Independent ADR Body  
Website  
Email address  
NOTES  

Complain about a BHTA Member business

If you feel you have been mistreated by a business that is a member of the Approved Code Scheme, there are steps you can take. In the first instance, please reach out to them - explaining the nature of your complaint in clear and unambiguous language, and mentioning that you are aware of their membership of the British Healthcare Trades Association and the Approved Code Scheme. In most cases, this approach will ensure your complaint receives proper attention - and, ideally, a resolution will be forthcoming. If you are not happy with the result, they must offer you Alternative Dispute Resolution, or you can request it.

Only if this approach fails to bear fruit should you contact BHTA, or their nominated ADR body (see their contact details, above) - who will then do their best to help you resolve your dispute with the business.

BHTA's Advice :

BHTA has a 5-step process for consumers to follow in order to raise a complaint against a BHTA member company (see the BHTA website for more information):

  1. Give the company a chance to put things right. Raise the complaint directly with the company; if, after no more than 12 weeks, the complaint is not resolved to consumer's satisfaction, consider raising a complaint with BHTA
  2. Confirm the company is a BHTA member. BHTA does not handle complaints against non-members
  3. Confirm the complaint is within BHTA remit. BHTA does not handle complaints that occurred when a company is / was not a BHTA member, or in instances not currently, nor has been, dealt with by a court, an alternative dispute resolution provider, or similar body
  4. Contact BHTA to raise a complaint. Write to BHTA via email or post to raise your complaint; include emails, paperwork, letters, records of telephone calls (BHTA will also request evidence from the company). BHTA will then:
    1. Consider whether the company has complied with the BHTA Code
    2. Consider whether the company has infringed legal rights
    3. Consider whether the company has been inefficient or caused undue delay resulting in loss of money and/or unreasonable inconvenience
    4. Propose a mediated solution to the complaint
  5. Reach an agreement or pursue other options. If the consumer accepts BHTA's solution, BHTA ensures the solution is carried out by the company. If the consumer does not accept BHTA's solution, they may:
    1. Ask BHTA to refer the complaint to an Independent Arbitrator for additional review and proposed solution
    2. Take up independent legal action outside the BHTA complaints process

Complain about the British Healthcare Trades Association (BHTA)

BHTA always strives to offer the highest level of service to consumers and approved BHTA-member companies. BHTA encourages any dissatisfied party to follow a 3-step process:

  1. Contact BHTA. In writing (complaints@bhta.com) or by phone (0207 702 2141), raise your complaint with BHTA directly, and give BHTA a chance to resolve the problem
  2. Contact CTSI. If a resolution cannot be agreed, raise a complaint about BHTA by emailing CTSI's Consumer Codes Approval Board (CCAB) at ccab@tsi.org.uk
  3. Undertake CTSI Complaints Process. An executive or manager at CTSI will initially review the complaint to check that it is within scope of investigation. Should this be the case, CTSI will follow up directly with details of how CTSI will progress the complaint

See the BHTA website for further information.


Organisation Information


Code Sponsor Name British Healthcare Trades Association
Website www.bhta.com
Contact Number 020 7702 2141
Email or Online Form Online Contact Form (opens in new tab)
Contact Address Tower Bridge Business Centre, 46-48 East Smithfield, London E1W 1AW

Corporate Details (from Companies House) :

Registered Name British Healthcare Trades Association
Company Reg. No. 00154121
Established 1919
Reg. Address Northgate House North Gate, New Basford, Nottingham, England, NG7 7BQ 

PLEASE NOTE : We recently changed the consumer-facing name of the scheme from the Consumer Codes Approval Scheme (CCAS) to the Approved Code Scheme. However, some of our publicity and contractual materials (produced before June 2024) may still include references to the original name. Until we have adapted everything, both names remain valid - and we apologise for any confusion.

The Approved Code Scheme, c/o CTSI, 1 Sylvan Court Sylvan Way, Southfields Business Park, Basildon, Essex, SS15 6TH

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