How our professional discipline solicitors have helped others:
1. Our professional discipline lawyers acted for a senior surgeon called to appear before the General Medical Council. Her Fitness to Practise had been brought into question following an operation she had performed on an 8 year old girl. The operation was a routine appendectomy however the allegations against the Registrant were that she had mistakenly removed an ovary and failed to excise the correct organ leaving the appendix intact having concluded the procedure without recognising her error.
The case was heard over 5 days before a Fitness to Practise Panel and after ensuring that the case against the Registrant was reviewed and challenged to ensure that final draft of the charges put to the Registrant were redacted to more commensurately reflect the evidence; we were able to demonstrate to the Panel that the Registrant’s practice was not impaired.
As a result of our efforts the Panel concluded that there was no impairment and the registrant continued in practise without either a warning or any restrictions.
2. Our lawyers defended a Doctor summonsed to a Fitness to Practise Panel hearing to face allegations of serious misconduct arising from a string of criminal convictions and alleged misuse of non-prescribed medication. GMC Lawyers sought our client’s erasure from the register.
Our client instructed us promptly and the department’s expertise in both criminal defence and GMC regulatory law enabled us to successfully exclude evidence against our client that might otherwise have prejudiced his case. We also introduced additional evidence in defence of the Doctor to establish his fitness to practise, including persuasive independent expert medical evidence that related to the Doctor's own health.
As a result of this the Fitness to Practise Panel found that our client could continue in practice subject to a Conditions of Practice Order.
3. Our professional discipline solicitors represented the owner of a group of retirement homes who had been prosecuted for breaches of Care Homes Regulations following the outbreak of a fire at one of his premises. As a registered nurse his case was referred to the Nursing and Midwifery Council. We represented the registrant during the referral and investigation stages and made oral submissions on his behalf. Following this the NMC decided not to refer the case to a full Conduct & Competence Committee Hearing.
4. We acted for a Registrant who had been subject to an Interim Suspension Order by the NMC. This order was imposed due to allegations of misconduct, namely: that she had illegally entered the UK and obtained employment without any right to remain or work in UK; and that she had relied on forged documents to obtain employment at a major London hospital. Following an exhaustive review of the case by our solicitors and effective representation at an Interim Orders (Review) Panel hearing, we were able to demonstrate that the Order was unnecessary. The Order was subsequently overturned and our client was allowed to return to Practice pending a substantive hearing of her case before the NMC.
5. Our lawyers acted for a Hearing Aid Dispenser who had represented himself during a 9 day hearing before the disciplinary committee of the Hearing Aid Council. His case concerned allegations of storing pornographic images on a works laptop. The Hearing Aid Council found against our client and ordered erasure from the register. Our Professional Discipline team represented the registrant in his appeal against this decision. The Court of Appeal overturned the order and our client was reinstated to the register.
