(Un) happy New Year
I don't know about you, but I do not like January. There's a terrible feeling of inertia, and it is so grey! However, the regulators wait for no man, and within three days of being back at work, I was in a hearing at the NMC. This was a tricky interim order review, where a nurse was subject to an interim conditions of practice order, imposed at a previous hearing for numerous medication errors and dishonesty. II had represented the nurse in the previous hearing. The panel gave me quite a grilling in the absence of my client (often it is better that they do not attend for certain hearings, and send me instead). Ultimately, the nurse's case was sunk by new evidence of withholding information in subsequent job applications and a failure to abide by one of the conditions of practice. She was suspended for 18 months. This felt like a loss to me - but on the way out, the legal assessor told me that I had done a good job and that the panel said the same. The lesson for me here is that the job isn't finished when ensuring that a nurse isn't suspended at that first hearing - nurses and others need to make sure that they behave properly between hearings, disclosing the fitness to practice proceedings to all employers and on all application forms, and making sure that conditions of practice are adhered to fastidiously.
That continuing duty to behave properly was underlined in another hearing before the HCPC, 3 days later. I represented a biomedical scientist, who had alleged competence issues at one employer. Having resigned his employment, he subsequently took on work at another employer, but did not disclose the previous employment on his application or in interview. That previous employment came out as senior staff at the two employers knew each other, and his name came up in conversation. As a result, the first employer referred him to the HCPC. Despite being able to adequately address the competence issues, we were not able to surmount the difficulty posed by the failure to disclose the previous employment - it was seen as an honesty/integrity issue requiring suspension on an interim basis for 18 months. This is a devastating result for the registrant, and underlines the need to be open and honest in dealings with employers. You can't hide your employment history, and you must be open and frank on all application forms and in interviews. Honesty is a fundamental principle of all of the professions, and failure to be honest will incur a heavy cost for a registrant.
The next day, I had a further hearing before the HCPC. This was a final full hearing of allegations of misconduct and lack of competence. A radiographer had failed to identify a patient, leading to an unintended dose of radiation being administered to that patient. Having done that once, within 6 months, they did it again with a larger dose being administered. The panel concluded that the second occasion amounted to misconduct, because the lesson should have but was not learned. Following my submissions however, they agreed that the registrant practice did not require restriction, and they imposed a caution order as a warning.
Again, that caution order need to be disclosed to potential employers, to make sure that no assertions of impropriety can be made.
As I write this, it's the 1st February, it's sunny outside and all seems well. I'm looking forward to keeping this year as happy for my clients as I can!
