Fitness to Practise

G29.12 regulation state that students can be represented by a College member, a member of the Students' Union, or a member of the Student’s professional organisation. 

The student will be required to speak during the hearing and anyone accompanying them cannot usually speak on their behalf. 

Permission to bring a solicitor will have to be sought prior to the hearing from the Chair of the FtP Committee. Please note that the Chair does not have to allow the student to bring a legal representative and will do so at their own discretion. 

If you cannot attend your hearing, then you should at the earliest opportunity let the FtP administrator know. You can find the details of the administrator on the invitation letter that you would have received. 

Hearings are only ever rescheduled for a good reason, for example; health reasons or medical appointments that cannot be rescheduled.

It would also be beneficial if you could provide some evidence as to why you are not able to attend and need to reschedule.  The committee would expect students to prioritise the hearing where possible. 

If the Faculty has not given permission to reschedule the hearing, then it will go ahead as scheduled in your absence. You will receive your outcome via letter through email, within 7 days of the hearing date. 

Although hearings can seem very scary, the committee members are professional and respectful in their approach. They understand the difficulty that students can face during the hearing, such as nerves. If they can see that a student is very distressed they will often offer them ‘time out’ to gather their thoughts, or time to speak with anyone who they have chosen to bring to the hearing. 

As stated above, we can also attend the hearing with you and help you prepare for it. This always works well for students who are anxious, as you will get time to discuss things with your caseworker before you go into the hearing, and do some ‘last minute’ preparations. 

Being prepared for the hearing can also alleviate anxiety and nerves. 

Introductions will first take place and you will then be asked to provide an explanation as to why to why you have been brought to a hearing. This will be followed by questions from each of the committee members to help them understand why the particular event happened and what your view on the situation is. Students should attempt to answer all questions asked as best as they can. 

In hearings students are expected to: 

• Show a deep level of understanding about how the particular event that unfolded led to a FTP hearing 
• Take responsibility for their actions that caused them to breach the NMC code 
• Express how the particular event compromised risk and/or any health and safety issues 
• Express what they have learnt from the situation 
• Express what they can do better moving forward 
• Express what led them to making the decisions that they did at that particular time 

Students are advised to follow the ‘Gibbs reflective cycle’ when writing their reflective statement. This is because following this process means that students can show a high level of reflection and enables them to learn from the experience, which in turn can enhance the student’s growth and development in their chosen field and can prevent the situation from happening again. 

It’s also very important that for the committee to determine that the student understands why they have been brought to a FTP meeting, what they could have done differently, and what actions they can take in the future to prevent it happening again. The Gibbs reflective cycle will help the student to express that. 

As mentioned above, we can advise you how to write the statement as well as giving reviews. 

Students cannot be removed from their programme at this internal (Faculty FtP) stage. However, there is chance they could be removed from their programme if they get referred to a College Fitness to Practise hearing. (See next question too) 

In a faculty-level FtP hearing you can expect one of the following outcomes: 

• Action agreed through committee discussion - they will get conditions (actions) that they will need to take or complete, they could be invited back to a review and expected to have completed those actions. If they have been completed successfully their FPT is no longer under dispute and it is the end of the matter. 
• Referral to College level fitness to practise committee – This is when the committee at faculty level don’t feel that the student is fit to practise and therefore they have to refer it to the college to make a decision. If a student gets this outcome another hearing will take place at college level and the student could taken off the programme. 
• No further action – The student is deemed fit to practise and there are no action plans that need to met 

In most cases you should receive the outcome on the day of the hearing. At the end of the hearing the student will be taking into a waiting area whilst the committee deliberate an outcome. Once they have concluded, the student will be invited back into the hearing and they will be given the outcome face to face. 

However, this may not always be possible for various reasons and if not you will receive the outcome within 7 days. 

A student can appeal the outcome of their faculty FtP hearing. If a student wishes to do this, they must contest the decision within 5 working days of receipt of the outcome. It will then be referred to a college level FTP hearing, where the case will be heard again. 

There are more penalties available at a College FtP hearing, including removal from the programme, however, they student is only likely to get a harsher penalty if they bring aggregating factors to the hearing. 

If you do not meet your action plan, then it is likely another faculty FTP hearing will take place to determine why you failed to do so. If actions plans are not met this can also increase the risk of you being referred to a College FTP hearing, where you could be removed from the course.