Ms Pauline E Pattinson

Preliminary Matters

1. The Panel has been convened to undertake a review of a Substantive Suspension Order made in respect of the Registrant, Ms Pauline Pattinson, an Operating Department Practitioner.

Notice of hearing served on the Registrant

2. The Panel found that the email sent to the Registrant on 16 August 2023, informing her of the date and time or the hearing, as well as the information that the hearing would be conducted by video conferencing, constituted good service of the notice of hearing.

Proceeding in the absence of the Registrant

3. The Presenting Officer applied for a direction that the hearing should proceed in the Registrant’s absence. She informed the Panel that there had been no engagement by the Registrant in the HCPC fitness to practise process, and it was apparent to the Panel from the determinations of the three panels that have previously considered this matter, that the Registrant had not participated in any of those hearings. Having accepted the advice form the Legal Assessor, the Panel acknowledged that proceeding with a hearing in the absence of the Registrant concerned is a significant decision, and not one to be taken lightly. However, this is a case in which the Registrant has clearly voluntarily waived her right to participate in this hearing, as she has the entire fitness to practise process. Furthermore, jurisdiction to make any further order will be lost upon the expiry of the present period of suspension on 16 October 2023. There is now barely sufficient time to provide a valid notice for a hearing before that date, and in any event there are no grounds on which the Panel could conclude that the Registrant would be likely to engage in a hearing to a greater extent before that date were the hearing not to proceed today. Accordingly, the Panel concluded that the clear public interest in permitting the hearing to continue outweighed any disadvantage arising from the Registrant’s absence.

Hearing to be conducted in private.

4. At the commencement of the hearing the Presenting Officer applied for a direction that the entirety of the hearing should be held in private. The basis of this application was that the allegation underpinning the hearing is one concerning the Registrant’s health, and the direction sought would be necessary to protect the Registrant’s private life. The Panel accepted the advice of the Legal Assessor and made the direction sought on the basis advanced by the Presenting Officer.

ORDER: The Registrar is directed to strike the name of Pauline E Pattinson from the Register on the date this Order comes into effect.

The Order imposed today will take effect upon the espiry of the previous Suspension Order on 16 October 2023.

History of Hearings for Ms Pauline E Pattinson