Denise is a HCPC-registered psychologist, as well as panel member for our Fitness to Practice and International Appeals panels.
What is your role at the HCPC and what do you do?
I am a Partner for the HCPC. I sit on Fitness to Practise panels and International Registration Appeals panels. In short, my work involves deciding whether registrants meet the standards needed for safe and effective practice and reviewing appeals from applicants who believe a decision about their eligibility to be added to the HCPC Register should be reconsidered. On both panels, the decisions I contribute to aim to protect the public, support a fair process, and keep the HCPC standards at the centre of the outcome.
What do you like most about being a Partner?
What I value most is the opportunity to put the HCPC standards into action. I particularly enjoy working collaboratively with other panel members. Typically, we each come from different professions and backgrounds. As a Black female registrant panel member, with over 20 years experience, I bring my own knowledge and understanding of day-to-day practice and the practical decisions registrants make every day. When my expertise sits alongside the shared duty we all bring, each panel becomes a space where careful decision-making, fairness, and public protection come together in a robust and meaningful and fulfilling way.
What are the challenges?
The level of responsibility can be demanding. Some cases involve large amounts of paperwork, serious allegations, and difficult circumstances and personal stories. That can be emotionally heavy at times. While we receive expert support from our legal advisers, as panel members, we must thoroughly prepare, listen carefully, ask critical questions, and make evidence-based decisions. Said decisions can affect a registrant’s career, influence public confidence, and protect service users. That weight of responsibility makes the role challenging, but it also provides a real sense of purpose.
Tell us a surprising fact about yourself.
As a young girl, I had three ambitions. I wanted to be a teacher, join the police force, and own a sweet shop. I achieved two out of three!
Before training as a primary school teacher, I owned and ran a sweet shop. I never joined the police force, but the sense of fairness and investigative thinking that attracted me to that career still guides the way I work as an HCPC Partner today.
