Last week I was at the NMC dealing (successfully) with an interim order application. Whilst there, I noted that one of the other ongoing hearings concerned a nurse who had made enquiries as to my services, but ultimately decided not to instruct me.

Out of interest, I checked the result of their hearing this week on the NMC website. I saw that they had been represented by a family friend, and unfortunately, this nurse was struck off by the panel.

When you get struck off, this means you cannot work as a nurse or midwife, unless you succeed in an appeal or review, for at least 5 years. You’ll have to find some other way of paying your bills. Then, you can apply to be restored to the register, but only if you succeed in convincing another panel that you are fit to practice. 5 nurses succeeded in doing so last year (one of whom was represented by me).

If you are restored to the register, you will have to do a return to practice course. This will cost you thousands of pounds, and requires you to spend many hours studying and carrying out clinical placements.

But before you get onto the course, both the course leaders and the institution’s fitness to practice committee must agree that you are suitable to be taken onto the course. You will need to fit your work and your life around the study and placements. Some course providers insist that you find the clinical placements yourself, before starting the course, and in trying to find the placements you will be competing against student nurses with no fitness to practice issues.

Once you finally complete the course, the institution will confirm to the NMC that you are ready to get back into practice. But then you’ll face the difficulty of getting work, having to declare that you were previously struck off and out of the nursing field for 5 years plus.

Clients have told me about the sense of loss they felt in those 5 years in the wilderness, stripped of their profession, their dignity and their reputation. It is not difficult to feel empathy with their plight.

I read about that nurse being struck off, I thought about what they now face and I simply felt sad.