NMC strike off Lucy Letby, but did they need a hearing?
On 12 December 2023, the Nursing & Midwifery Council announced that following a Fitness to Practise committee hearing, an independent panel has concluded that Lucy Letby will be struck off the register and when the order takes effect in January 2024, she will therefore cease to be a registered nurse.
It seems obvious to most that healthcare professionals convicted of serious crimes are “fundamentally incompatible” with their profession. This applies to nursing, as in this case, and other regulated healthcare positions.
So, why did the NMC need to conduct a formal hearing?
Currently, strict legislation governs the rules and processes of most healthcare regulators. This legislation outlines a formalised process that regulators must follow before imposing sanctions. This includes conducting hearings so an independent panel or tribunal can make a final decision. While this is the current situation, the government has committed to reforming the legislative framework for regulated health and care professionals across the UK.
One proposed reform aims to make fitness-to-practice processes less adversarial. This change intends to speed up decision-making in cases like Lucy Letby’s. In the future, regulators will likely gain the power to remove healthcare professionals from their respective registers for the most serious criminal convictions. This change aims to improve public confidence in regulation.
Over the coming months and years, Regulatory Defence will be staying abreast of the changes that widespread regulatory reform will have on the regulatory healthcare bodies in order to ensure that we are best placed to advice our clients on the effects of these changes and how this could impact on fitness to practise investigations.