PLEASE COMPLETE ALL SECTIONSCONFIDENTIAL

UNIVERSITY OF SALFORD

FITNESS TO PRACTISE PROCEDURE

INVESTIGATOR’S REPORT

Student’s Name: / Student Number: @
School:
Programme: / Field of Practice:
Cohort: / Commencement date:
Level of study:(3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or 8) / Semester:
Year of study: / Cohort/commencement date:
Relevant professional body:(e.g. NMC, HCPC, BACP)
Investigator:
Date of Incident/allegations:
Date of Referral of allegations:
Person reporting the allegation(s):
Designation: e.g. Academic Staff
Programme Leader:
Personal Tutor:
Summary of incident / allegations(please include reference to the Procedure as appropriate).
Was the case referred to the Preliminary Stage in relation to this case (section 9.2)? / Yes/No
If yes please give brief details of outcome:
Has the student been suspended from clinical practice?
Has the student been suspended from University? / Yes/No
Yes/No
If yes: date of suspension (be specific whether date is of suspension from practice and/or University)
Reason for suspension (delete/highlight as appropriate):
  • Protection of the Public:
  • Public Interest:
  • Student’s Interest:
  • Other (give details)

Outline of Investigation (include summary timeline):
Provide concise details, referenced to evidence/appendices, to the alleged fitness to practise:
Record of Interviews
Status / Name / Date of Interview
Student *
Personal Tutor *
Programme Leader *
Institutional Placement Staff*
Placement Mentor *
Placement Supervisor *
Professional Practitioners
Witnesses/others
Please note that it is essential that a note of any discussion / interview with individuals marked with * is included. Who the investigator meets will vary in each case but may include those named in the table.If the referral arose from a situation in the student’s placement please include all statements from practitioner colleagues marked with *who have raised concerns about the student’s conduct or behaviour.
Please add additional rows if required.
Conclusions of the investigation (please include reference to specific sections in the Procedure as appropriate):
(Focus on the conclusions with a clear statement as to the strength of the evidence for each allegation. The Investigator should avoid suggesting a final determination.)
Recommendations to Dean of School (or nominee).
This should relate specifically to the evidence, try to avoid personal speculation as to whether there is a case to answer or whether or not there is mitigating/aggravating factors. Present evidence of aggravating and / or mitigating factors.Please include reference to specific sections in the Procedure as appropriate:
Please include clear indication including where there is substantive evidence of:
Professionally misconduct (section 4 and 5),
Professional unsuitability (section 6).
Recommendation of any witness to be called should the case be reported to anysubsequent hearing:
Checklist of enclosures - Have you included the following items: / Yes / No
Timeline.
Copy of letter from Dean of School (or nominee) on initiation of case
Copy of the relevant notes and reports.
Notes of all meetings, e-mail correspondence from all parties relating to the investigation.
Copies of relevant practice and / or academic documentation, Personal Development Plans, personal tutor records, particularly where allegations relate to skills, knowledge and/or understanding.
Details of any previous relevant FtP decision, advice, support or warnings given.
Relevant allegation grid e.g. those available from the School Health & Society
Investigator: / Date:

Last update May 2018

INSERT LIST OF APPENDICES

NB: ensure the form above and any form appended is fully completed, with names and dates signed off. Where there are uncompleted sections (e.g. the student/mentor felt unable to sign off a specific report) this should be acknowledged and a brief explanation given.

Guidance to Investigators

Please

Follow the University Fitness to Practise procedure

Seek advice and support from colleagues as required

Consider proportionality and risk

The role is to gather relevant evidence, not to ‘make the case’

Remember to remove/redact non-relevant personal information

Remember the principles of equity and fairness

  • When presenting the report consider that the Dean (or nominee) and particularly Panel members maynot be as familiar with the case, the programme and the nature of any specific placement/module as you.
  • Provide a timeline, this greatly helps those not familiar with a case to understand it.
  • Provide the report and appendices as a complete organised document. It can be difficult for those not familiar with a case to organise documentation and this may lead to problems with clarity.
  • Cross reference the report and evidence in the appendices.
  • Provide details (and appendices) in an order that is easy to follow (e.g. chronologically).
  • Be concise and focused upon the allegations.
  • Try not use abbreviations or provide full explanations of their meaning on the first instance they are used, similarly where technical language is used please provide explanations.
  • Avoid speculative statements and statements unsupported by corroborating evidence.
  • Give clear and precise summation, quoting the Procedure.
  • Where summaries of meetings/interviews are provided it is always helpful if the parties present have had an opportunity to confirm or otherwise their agreement with the summaries. See Procedure for policy on audio recording of interviews.
  • Consider carefully whether all the information provided is pertinent to the main case. For example where the case regards a significant level of professional misconduct it may be distracting to provide details of a range of relatively less significant issues which would otherwise be dealt with as part of the student’s clinical training/development. However if there is an issue of professional unsuitability this information if appropriately presented may, where it is shown to be relevant and substantiated, provide evidence of broader issues.
  • Where recommending witnesses please give details of which aspects the witnesses are to be called in relation to and why it is considered useful for them to be called in addition toproviding witness statements. Witnessescan be useful in cases with a contested version of a specific event and a Panel is required to take a view as to which version on the balance of probabilities is more likely to be a true reflection of events. The University cannot compel cooperation with its procedures.
  • Where there are broader or external issues in terms of University or placement provider practices it may not be appropriate to include details, but reference to the fact that these are to be addressed through appropriate channels (e.g. as a footnote) This allows those receiving the report,and who may have professional responsibilities, to be assured that such issues are being dealt with appropriately.
  • Be aware of confidentiality and data protection. Where it is necessary to redact a document to protect the identity of a third party or someone’s personal information (e.g. home address, personal email) then be clear that this has been done (e.g. by blocking out the details or substituting names with other identifiers [Student A] and [Patient B]). Be particularly careful not to breach confidentiality of clients.
  • If the case involves more than one student, or if there are related parallel cases, ensure only material directly relevant to the specific case is included.
  • All edited documents should be clearly identified as having been edited. This aims to avoid the possible interpretation that attempts have been made to alter the evidence. This includes thecutting and pasting of extracts/complete emails.
  • Where editing involves any form of selective quotation of statements, those making the statements should be provided with the opportunity to comment on the edit.
  • Where there are a number of appendices it is useful for readers if a clear contents list is provided, the below is an example which can beedited as appropriate:

Appendix 1 time line of event

Appendix 2 letter of notification from DoS (or nominee)

Appendix 3 copy of notification to School from placement/report of alleged misconduct

Appendix 4 note of meeting with student (student should have opportunity to comment on notes)

Appendix 5 notes of meeting/conversations with mentor/placement tutors/personal tutor

Appendix 5 correspondence (if edited in any way, even formatting, please note what has been changed)

Appendix 6relevant practice and / or academic documentation, Personal Development Plans, personal tutor records

Appendix 7previous relevant advice or warnings given, also previous cases

Appendix 8Allegations grids

Appendix 9list of key personnel, including job titles roles (e.g. mentor). Include initials used in report if this is done.

Appendix 10 glossary of technical terms (unless explained within the report)

The above is a brief set of bullet points.

Further guidance is available from the relevant Professional Bodies and University schools

The QEO Fitness to Practise page includes links to current versions of the procedure and related documentation, including allegations grids

Further guidance is available from the relevant Professional Bodies and University schools:

Specific examples include:

  • BACP

from 1 July 2016

for link to Ethical Framework for Counselling Professions 2018 This will be implemented on 1 July 2018.

  • HCPC
  • NMC
  • Further guidance and allegation grids are available at:
  • Support & Guidance for students is available from AskUS

Form and guidance adapted from that produced by Ruth H Chadwick and used by the School of Nursing, Midwifery, Social Work and Social Science, with additional comments and advice from other colleagues.