This is the first in a series of briefings exploring the process for fitness to practise investigations in detail. How does an investigation start? In the vast majority of cases, fitness to practise investigations begin when a complaint is made to the…
Since July 2014 there has been a legal obligation on registered healthcare professionals to have indemnity cover for the work which they undertake.[1] This is intended to ensure that patients can be properly compensated in the event they are harmed…
The first healthcare regulators report on whistleblowing was published on 11 September 2018, collating over 12 months of information from each of the 8 healthcare regulators.[1] What is the report and why was it commissioned? The report, designed to provide information in…
The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC) has recently published ‘Guidance to ensure a safe and effective pharmacy team’[1]. The guidance explains what pharmacy owners should do to ensure a safe and effective team and meet the standards set out under Principle…
A frequently repeated complaint from healthcare providers is the inability to find suitable candidates to fill vacant posts. Within both the NHS and the private sector, a staffing crisis has arisen which seems to be accelerating. One of the drivers…
Earlier this month the Privy Council approved legislation introducing new defences to criminal offences concerning dispensing errors made by registered pharmacy professionals. The Pharmacy (Preparation and Dispensing Errors – Registered Pharmacies) Order 2018 aims to protect registered pharmacists, technicians and those…
Nicolinka Gancheva Kamberova v Nursing and Midwifery Council [2016] EWHC 2955 Introduction Prior to the decision of the Supreme Court in Khan v GPhC[1], this case considered whether the Conduct and Competence Committee of the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) should take…
Habib Khan Khan v General Pharmaceutical Council UKSC [2016] UKSC 64 When imposing sanctions at the conclusion of a fitness to practise hearing, panels must apply the principal of proportionality applying the least restrictive sanction necessary to meet the relevant regulatory…
