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HCPC Case

Group 3

The scenario

Scenario

Registrant convicted on 24th April 2017 at Balamory Justice of the Peace court where he pleaded guilty to:

  • Assault to Injury (domestic, dom abuse stat aggravation)
  • Assault

He was fined £540 and ordered to pay £200 in compensation.

Background

  • Employed by Holby Ambulance Service at the Balamory Station
  • Initially employed in 1989 in patient transport
  • Qualified in 1993 as a Ambulance Paramedic
  • No previous disciplinary matters recorded
  • Patchy attendance due to health difficulties

Dionne Yates

What did they do wrong?

What went wrong

The convictions:

Registrant pleaded guilty to two charges of assault

1. Assault to injury (domestic, dom abuse stat aggravation).

2. Assault.

What is stat aggravation?

Dionne Yates

Domestic Abuse Act (2018)- Section 5

Section 5:

  • Provides for a statutory aggravation that the accused committed the offense of abusive behavior towards a partner or ex-partner in a way which involved a child.

Section 5(2) (a) Perpetrator directed behavior at a child.

Section 5 (2) (b) Used child to direct abuse towards the victim.

Section 5 (3) Child must hear, see or be present.

Section 5 (4) Means that the child could be adversely affected by perpetrators behavior. However, section 5 (5) means the child is not required to understand the nature of perpetrators actions or yet be adversely affected.

(Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018, 2018).

The standards and codes

Codes

  • The HCPC guidelines state that: 3.4 You must keep up to date with and follow the law, our guidance and other requirements relevant to your practice.

The individual was found guilty of assault therefore they have not followed the law.

  • 7.3 You must take appropriate action if you have concerns about the safety or well-being of children or vulnerable adults.

Whilst it is unlikely that the individual was concerned about a child's wellbeing they were involved in a statutory aggravation charge which could put the the child in danger or effect their well being.

  • 9.1 You must make sure that your conduct justifies the public’s trust and confidence in you and your profession

It might be found out by the public that this individual was a paramedic and will lower the publics trust and confidence in the service.

  • 9.5 You must tell us as soon as possible if: – you accept a caution from the police or you have been charged with, or found guilty of, a criminal offence

It is not stated whether the individual informed the HCPC of his offence however, they have still been charged with the offence therefore this is applicable.

Ethical implications of decisions made

Ethical Implications

  • Ethics is an understanding of whats right and wrong. The mans actions may show that he can no longer make correct ethical decisions as his domestic violence actions where unethical (wrong).
  • This may effect his ability to make correct ethical decisions for his patients as he may have lost his way of rational thinking and decision making.

Implications to patients- Hannah

ETHICS

Further potential harm to pediatric patients.

Possible decrease of effective care due to distraction

Hostility and aggression to patients.

Patient safety.

Legal implications of decisions made

Legal Implications

The paramedic's conviction can be associated to a number of legislation's, for example:

The Care Act (2014) - holds a legislation relating to safeguarding adults at risk of abuse

Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004) - justice and protection for victims of domestic abuse

The HCPC guidelines expects healthcare professionals to follow the law and the paramedic was found guilty of assault therefore he would have violated the laws mentioned above.

implications of profession as a whole

Profession

  • Duty to maintain professional behaviours outside the workplace

  • Ambulance Service Policies

  • Clinical Quality Commission - monitors, inspects and regulates

Potential outcomes

The outcomes for this gentleman in question is highly based of his levels of fitness to practice and whether he continues to hold the correct Standards of Proficiency and Standards of Conduct, Performance and Ethics laid out by the HCPC.

Suspension

Suspension: An Interim Order is a measure to protect the public by preventing a registrant from practicing, or restricting their practice, whilst an investigation takes place. This will be required in situations where:

Concerns about a registrant’s fitness to practice are so serious that public safety would be put at risk.

A risk to the public interest, if the registrant could practice without restriction.

Consideration that it is in the registrant’s own interests to do so.

The panel can also:

Make no order, if they feel there is no immediate or serious risk presented by the registrant continuing to practice without restriction

Impose an Interim Conditions of Practice Order, which restricts a registrant’s practice in the way set out by the panel

Impose an Interim Suspension Order, which prevents the registrant from practicing for as long as the Order is in place.

Conditional Practice…

The amount of updating (the number of activities you carry out to update your practice) that we need is a minimum requirement. 

If you are returning to practice, we need you to update your knowledge and skills as follows.

0 to 2 years out of practice – no requirements

2 to 5 years out of practice – 30 days of updating

5 or more years out of practice – 60 days of updating

In cases where legal allegations have taken place, registrants may have periods after/during the process of resolving the issue where they re supervised with what they do and how they act by a senior member of the team and/or only able to conduct certain elements of the practice.

Conditional Practice

Therapy and Counselling…

Therapy and counselling may be prescribed to a registrant if there are mental or physiological issues involved in the case in question.

This can include

General counselling

Family counselling

Psychiatrist

CBT (depression/anxiety etc)

Therapy & Counseling

Likely outcome for this case…

Outcomes for this Case

It seems that for this case, due to the lack of safety to the public the registrant in question would most likely go under suspension until the case is resolved with a definitive outcome through an intense investigation. If found guilty, they would most likely be struck off.

However, another likely outcome could be suspension of a certain amount of time to allow counselling/therapy of his health difficulties.

On return, conditions to practice will highly likely be put in place. In relation to the statutory aggregation, one condition may be supervision on child cases.

Conclusion

Conclusion

In conclusion, the incident of assault demonstrates a potential impact to the registrants ability to delivery good quality of care, and if overlooked, would cause damage to the public perception of the paramedic profession.

As a group, we decided the best course of action would be suspension with councilling and therapy, followed by a return to conditional practice.

Questions?

Questions

References

Legislation.gov.uk. 2018. Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018. [online] Available at: <http://Section 5 - Aggravation in relation to a child> [Accessed 18 March 2020].

References

Topic

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