Improving patient, family and colleague witnesses’ experiences of Fitness to Practise proceedings

According to the Professional Standards Authority, Fitness to Practise is ‘the process used by statutory professional regulators to handle complaints or deal with concerns made about health and care professionals on their registers’. Witnesses to misconduct can be called to give evidence in a Fitness to Practise investigation and hearing. A proportion of these will include patients, service users and colleagues who may have been significantly harmed by the registrant’s behaviour. Such cases may include behaviours associated with sexual abuse, harassment and bullying, theft and fraud, and lasting clinical harm. We know from the research in the criminal justice system that there is potential for additional trauma caused by the experience of being a witness. This evidence-based course provides learning about the Fitness to Practise process and being a witness.