This week was a week of two different hearings.

The first hearing was a pre-hearing at the NMC. The issue to be decided was an application to postpone a final hearing on behalf of a client who had suffered a bereavement. What made the application a little more difficult was that the hearing had already been postponed once by the registrant, and so the NMC were arguing that the hearing should not be postponed again. Usually these applications can be decided without a hearing, but because the NMC was opposing it, a hearing was necessary.

In the hearing, the NMC put forward several reasons why our application should not be granted, but having heard my submissions, the panel chair concluded that the application should be granted.

My client was very relieved - it was a huge relief and a weight off their shoulders.

The second hearing was also at the NMC. My client had been represented at a final hearing by another representative and been given a sanction of a 6 months suspension order. When that order was reviewed earlier this year, they were represented by the same representative, and given a further 6 months suspension order.

Fortunately, they decided that it was not third time lucky and instructed me to assist with the hearing this time around. Having instructed me in plenty of time, we were able to address all of the issues raised by the previous panel, and so the hearing went very smoothly.

The panel decided that my client’s fitness to practise was no longer impaired, meaning that my client can shortly return to their role as a nurse.

The NMC is where I first started my work in the fitness to practise arena (10 years ago), and it gives me great satisfaction to defend nurses and get them back to work. Here’s hoping for another 10 good years!