Police Cautions HPC and Removal
If you have been arrested and received a police caution and are a health care professional you may now be realising the significant impact the caution may have on your career.
Police Cautions and the DBS
As a health care professional you are obliged to disclose your police caution to the Heath Professions Council (HPC) or your particular regulatory body, such the General Medical Council (GMC) for doctors, the General Dental Council (GDC) for Dentists or the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) for nurses.
The regulatory environment for health care workers is very strict, as you will be in close contact with young and vulnerable people, and if you have received a caution your regulatory body will take it very seriously. A official inquiry into the caution will be convened to look into whether you are “fit to practise”.
Even if the caution is old, as you will most likely need to carryout an enhanced Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) check, there is a possibility that even old police cautions will be disclosed on your DBS check.
Below is a list of medical and health care professions that may be affected by the imposition of a police caution.
Police Cautions and HPC
|
|
Police Caution HPC Removal Solicitor
If you hope to work as a health care professional or are currently working as one and have a police caution then please get in touch. I am qualified solicitor and I have had a significant number of police cautions removed. I have had police cautions removed for a wide variety of professional clients including doctors, dentists and pharmacists.
I recently co-authored a journal paper on the reform of the police cautioning procedure in the Criminal Law Review (the leading criminal law journal – see here for the abstract of the paper: “Suggestions for Reform to the Simple Cautioning procedure”). I also recently wrote the UK Westlaw Insight on Police Cautions – Westlaw Insights are written “by experts in the field including leading solicitors, barristers and academics – all overseen by Parliamentary Counsel.”
Police Cautions
There are a number of reasons why you might have received an unfairly issued caution and I am usually able to determine, after an initial phone consultation, whether you have a chance of having your caution removed (expunged).
You may have been unfairly coerced into accepting your caution, you may not have admitted the allegation, you may have received incorrect legal advice or there may be some other reason which renders your caution unfair.
Police Cautions and their Impact on your career
You also may not have been told about the impact a police caution would have on your career. You may have accepted the caution because you were led to believe that it wouldn’t stop you from working as a health care professional.
The police often give incorrect advice about the true nature and impact of the caution. If you have been misled about the caution, to the extent that you would not have accepted it had you know the caution’s true impact, then you may be able to have the caution removed.
Solicitor for Police Caution Removal
If you want to work as a health care professional and you have a police caution then please get in touch.
I am not able to offer advice on police cautions on legal aid but I charge reasonable fixed fees for my services.
Please get in touch to find out more.