All of a sudden, I have become terribly busy. It is as if the regulators, like a slumbering bear, have awoken from their winter hibernation. They are busy and now I am too.

It may seem odd, but did you know that as a student, if you make an allegation of misconduct against your practice education facilitator or mentor, it can end up with a fitness to practice process with you as the subject?

Yesterday I took on a new client, a nurse accused of dishonestly working in second employment whilst on sick leave from the first. This type of case is common and I have at least three of these at the moment.

This was a very interesting case, because the NMC got an interim conditions of practice order against the nurse, and this made it very difficult for her to find work as a nurse and thus remedy her failings.

Social Worker was accused of inappropriate accessing of the data of family and friends. This is a recurring theme recently - please guys, do not do it,

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).

We did better than that and got a finding of fitness to practice not impaired.

Although I'm happy to pick up cases the day before a hearing if necessary, some cases really require registrants to engage with the proceedings and with me a little earlier.