Agree to disagree
It is possible in certain circumstances, if you agree that you are guilty of fitness to practice allegations, to agree an appropriate sanction with the NMC or HCPC. I advised a recent client that it was appropriate in their case, where they were guilty of dishonestly claiming overtime payments over a three month period, resulting in a gain of over £7000.
When you come to such an agreement, it has to be formally approved by a fitness to practice panel at a hearing. You don't attend this hearing. Most of the time the panel does approve the agreement, but sometimes they do not and in this case they did not. That put my client in a perilous position, as the agreed sanction was a 12 month suspension order, which meant the panel felt that my client should in fact be struck off.
If an agreement is not approved, the matter is put before another hearing panel and you get another opportunity to convince them as to the appropriate sanction. You do attend this hearing (if you value your PIN).
We did attend the second hearing and after hearing my submissions and evidence from my client, the panel agreed that a 12 month suspension order was appropriate and that my client should not be struck off.
When you are suspended, the panel has the power to make the order subject to review. This means that the order does not end when the 12 months is up. Instead you have to convince a further panel that you are then fit to return to practice. You can end up being further suspended if they are not convinced.
In this case the panel accepted that the order need not be subject to review, so at the end of the 12 months, my client will be able to go straight back to practice.
This case is a prime example of why it is so important to have the right advice. Without it, my client would have been struck off the register and facing a period of at least 5 years without being able to practice as a nurse.
My focus is on getting the best possible result in the circumstances, and happily my client (K.D.) agreed we got that here.
