Two excellent results
Just under two weeks ago, I was at the NMC defending a nurse given a police caution for theft of opiates from their employer and for possession of Class A drugs. It was a final hearing, at which the NMC were suggesting that a period of short suspension was appropriate. Ultimately, having heard our submissions, the panel agreed with me that a caution order was the right sanction. This was a case I had seen through almost from the very beginning, and I had in fact given some advice on dealing with the police whilst this client was on bail. All in all, a satisfactory outcome.
Even better though, was today's result in a 3 day hearing before the HCPC, where I represented a social worker accused of failing to secure their work phone and allowing a family member to use it to carry out drug related activities, as well as insecurely storing large amounts of confidential information going back to 2011. At the end of the HCPC's evidence, after detailed cross examination of the HCPC witnesses, I made a submission of no case to answer. After considering the matter for over half a day, the panel agreed that there was no case to answer and dismissed the case. Again another case where my client was not even required to give evidence.
In general, I prefer to avoid my clients giving evidence if I can. I think this goes back to my days of criminal representation (I dealt with thousands of interviews under caution), where I would only advise a client to answer questions if absolutely necessary - otherwise it was "no comment". The regulatory/disciplinary field is unique, but elements from criminal law can be applied here: this is an example of why I feel my experience in criminal and employment law have combined to make me an effective practitioner in the regulatory & disciplinary field (or so clients tell me).
Interestingly in this last case, the registrant had been very cagey in the internal proceedings when asked questions in an investigatory meeting, and this assisted us at this stage. Another reason why you should think about taking advice on how to handle internal disciplinary proceedings, well before things reach the NMC/HCPC stage!
