Fitness to practise fact sheets

The first stage of our fitness to practise process. During triage we consider whether the concern we have been told about is something we can deal with.

Another name for the stage of our investigation before a threshold decision is made.

Once the threshold investigation is complete, the case is passed to a senior decision maker to decide if the concerns meet our threshold criteria.

The case has been reviewed and we have decided that the threshold for an allegation of impairment has been met. 

We have finished our investigation into the concerns identified as meeting our threshold and we have drafted allegations which we will invite you to respond to.

Your case has been transferred to our Case Preparation and Conclusion team. We will instruct our external legal firm to carry out further investigation and prepare the case for a final hearing.

In some cases, we use an interim order to protect the public by preventing a registrant from practising, or restricting their practice, whilst an investigation takes place.

All interim orders are regularly reviewed by a panel at an Interim Order Review hearing.

If the panel decides to discontinue the matter in full, we will close our case and take no further action. If the panel decides to discontinue some but not all of the allegations, a fresh panel will be asked to consider the remaining allegations at the final hearing.

As part of its active case management procedures, the Conduct and Competence/Health Committee has issued standard directions for the conduct of all hearings in order to ensure that cases are dealt with quickly, fairly and effectively. 

Disposal by consent is a process by which the registrant and the HCPC can seek to conclude a case without the need for a contested hearing.

Preliminary hearings deal with procedural, evidential, timetabling, or other case management issues that need to be resolved before a substantive hearing can take place.

Once the HCPC has informed HCPTS that the case is ready to be listed for a hearing, the case will be allocated a scheduling officer in the HCPTS team, who will be responsible for planning the hearing.

A hearing which is held by meeting online. A few days before the hearing is due to happen, a hearings officer in our Tribunal Service will send you an invitation to join the hearing via Microsoft Teams.

We have finished preparing the case and it has been listed for a final hearing, otherwise referred to as a substantive hearing.

If the panel decide to a conditions of practice or suspension order, this will be reviewed at a substantive review hearing to decide if the order should be changed or removed.

We take a flexible approach to hearings and can accommodate witnesses and registrants attending virtually from a compatible device.