Fitness to Practice

A self-referral is when you let the HCPC know about a concern regarding your conduct, competence or health that may affect your fitness to practise.

You must tell the HCPC if:

1. Your employer limits your practice, or if you’ve been suspended or dismissed by an employer because of concerns about your conduct or competence. Restrictions placed on your practice means that your employer doesn’t allow you to practise in your usual role with your usual responsibilities or freedoms. If this happens due to concerns about your conduct or competence, you should tell the HCPC.
2. You accept a caution from the police, or you have been charged with or found guilty of a criminal offence.
3. Another organisation responsible for regulating a health or social-care profession has taken action or made a finding against you. If you are registered with another regulator in the health and social care sector (e.g. Nursing and Midwifery Council), and they put in place a temporary measure that limits your registration, like an interim order, or conclude an investigation and found that your fitness to practise was impaired, then you must tell the HCPC.

Being fit to practise is also about being well enough to practise safely and effectively.

If your health doesn't impact your work, and you can adjust or stop working as necessary to stay safe and effective, there's no need to inform the HCPC. In other words, if you can meet standard 6.3 of the Standards of conduct, performance, and ethics, you don't have to report it.

Please see Standards of conduct, performance and ethics

You should tell the HCPC if your mental or physical health condition affects your ability to practise safely and effectively and you can’t adapt, limit or stop your practice as needed to remain safe and effective. Or, if you are not sure whether it affects (or could affect) your ability to practise, or what steps you need to take to stay safe and effective.

If you are struggling with your mental health, tell someone. Talk to a friend, family member or trusted colleague. Or use one of the services that are here to support us: Samaritans: 116 123

Support and advice

If you’re unsure about whether to self-refer, you can seek advice from:

• Your professional body or union
• Your employer
• Your GP, medical practitioner, or occupation health
• The HCPC on Freephone 0800 328 4218

Find further guidance on making a self-referral.

The HCPC aims to:

– have a case considered by the Investigating Committee within eight months of receiving criteria (if the concern meets their threshold); and

– hold a final hearing within nine months of the Investigating Committee panel’s decision that there is a case to answer.

You can continue to practise while the HCPC investigates your case, unless a panel has put in place an interim order that suspends your registration or restricts your practice.

You cannot remove yourself from the HCPC Register while there are fitness to practise proceedings outstanding against you.

You are entitled to be represented, or to represent yourself, throughout the fitness to practise process. It is up to you whether you want to be represented at the final hearing, but you may want to get advice from your Union (if you are a member), or get independent legal advice.

You don’t have to go to the final hearing, but it is generally in your best interests to do so. If you do go, you (or your representative) will have an opportunity to question witnesses and 

give your side of events. If you don’t go, you can provide written statements to be read out in your absence, but this will not allow you to respond directly to evidence heard on the day.

A hearing may proceed even if you’re not there. The Panel, deciding whether to continue without you, considers things like why you're absent, whether it's voluntary, and if delaying the proceedings would let you attend later. They also think about how delaying might affect witnesses, their memory of events, and the general need for hearings to happen reasonably quickly in the public interest.

You can request to postpone or adjourn the hearing. If the hearing is more than 28 days away, it's called a postponement. If it's within 28 days, or if a hearing has already started and you want to stop and continue it later, it's called an adjournment.

Very few registrants are struck off. To be struck off, the hearing panel will have decided that the registrant’s fitness to practice is impaired and that the nature and gravity of the concerns are such that any lesser action would be insufficient to protect the public. The decision to strike off might be made where the registrant lacks insight, continues to repeat the misconduct or fails to address a lack of competence. The sanction is also likely to be used for serious, persistent, deliberate or reckless acts, including dishonesty, abuse of professional position and sexual misconduct.