Kings View successfully persuade medical practitioners’ tribunal that doctor’s fitness to practise is not impaired as hearing is closed at stage 1.

Dr SS came to us over three years ago following a referral by an employer to NHSE and the GMC. The allegations were around dishonesty at work. Witnesses made a series of allegations about his conduct and behaviour.

It had always been his case that these allegations were false and malicious. We represented him at the NHSE investigatory interview, following which they decided not to take the matter any further.

The GMC however decided to pursue the allegations to a medical practitioners’ tribunal fitness to practise hearing. Dr SS was represented by Kings View at the medical practitioners’ tribunal hearing and following cross-examination of the GMC witnesses, we made a half-time submission to have the allegations dismissed before the defence case.

The Tribunal agreed with the defence and dismissed all of the dishonesty allegations and the mischief allegations. Dr SS gave evidence as part of the defence case in respect of the few remaining factual allegations and in line with the defence strategy.  The tribunal again agreed with his version of events and found them unproved too. The case concluded in entirety at Stage 1.

Fitness to practise defence barrister and joint head of chambers, Stephen McCaffrey, commented:

“Dr SS was a classic example of our ability to obtain the best outcomes when clients come to us at the earliest stages.

 

“He worked with us to agree a single defence strategy from the outset which worked with NHSE and again at the MPTS. Getting expert advice you trust at the outset cannot be overstated.”

Dr SS said:

“My GMC tribunal collapsed at Stage 1, thanks to Kings View. If you are reading this, the chances are that you are going through something similar to what I did.

 

“Nothing really prepares you for the stress of going through a GMC investigation, especially a tribunal. The only experience I had had with the GMC was occasional lectures at medical school when the GMC came down to frighten us by showing how doing seemingly reasonable sounding things were going to get us all struck off.

 

“To give you an idea of how responsive Kings View were, I emailed Stephen McCaffrey one afternoon. Within three hours, he was on the phone to me and explained exactly what was going on, and it took a lot of pressure off because I finally understood what I was facing. From then on, he was my guy.

 

“Stephen got most of the allegations thrown out at half-time, including the most serious charge, which would have resulted in suspension or erasure. The final decision was that nothing was proved, and the case collapsed in the first stage. That is the best outcome possible, and my GMC registration is untarnished.

 

“I am very glad that I did not go with my indemnity provider.

 

“As a doctor, you might see a patient who has seen so many different doctors with different opinions, it’s all a bit of a mess by the time they come to you. It makes sense to get proper advice from the start.

 

“I would wholeheartedly recommend Kings View to anyone.”