Most registrants fear the threat of a GOC complaint yet few will ever experience it and fewer still experience sanctions from their regulator. Many registrants who have participated in OCCS peer group reviews demonstrate little understanding of what constitutes a fitness to practise issue, the principles around professional competence vs professional conduct, nor how seemingly innocuous matters can escalate if not handled effectively.

This session, presented by Richard Edwards, is designed to increase registrants ability to manage complaints effectively and to better equip delegates with a greater understanding of the new regulatory landscape so as to enable them to navigate a regulatory investigation. This lecture is based around three anonymised & appropriately redacted case studies from the GOC Fitness to Practise and OCCS databases from which delegates will explore the factors that differentiate:

• A clinical complaint that would constitute and require FtP investigation right through to full hearing and imposition of a sanction on the registrant
• A clinical complaint that should be managed effectively by mediation /explanation from the practice
• A clinical complaint that would require a full FtP hearing but no sanction being imposed

This content is worth 1 CPD point