Katie Davis

Preliminary Matters
Service

1. The Panel was shown a copy of a notice of hearing dated 25 April 2025 that was sent to the Registrant’s email address previously notified to the HCPC for the purpose of communications with the HCPC. By Article 30(9) of the Health Professions Order 2001 (as amended), before a Panel exercises its reviewing powers, the Committee shall give the registrant an opportunity to appear before and argue their case in accordance with the relevant rules. Those rules are the HCPC (Health Committee) (Procedure) Rules 2003 as amended (‘the Rules’) and in particular rules 3,6,10B and 14. The Panel accepted the advice of the Legal Assessor that there had been good service of the notice of hearing.

Hearing in Private

2. On behalf of the HCPC Ms Mertens applied for the entire hearing to be conducted in private on the grounds that this is a health case. The Legal Assessor advised that such a course was appropriate in the circumstances and that such a direction should be made by the Panel under rule 10(1)(a) of the Rules. The Panel directed that the entire hearing should be conducted in private.

Application to Proceed in the Absence of the Registrant

3. The hearing commenced just before 10:40 in the absence of the Registrant. After further inquiries had been made, Ms Mertens placed before the Panel copies of recent email correspondence between the Registrant and the HCPC, including an email from the Registrant which stated: -
[PRIVATE]

4. Ms Mertens applied for the hearing to be conducted in the absence of the Registrant for the limited purpose of extending the current order for a short period to enable the Registrant to attend at an adjourned hearing, because it was due to expire on 6 June 2025. Ms Mertens submitted that although the Registrant’s absence was involuntary, i.e. the public interest in securing the necessary public protection required there to be a hearing today for the purposes of enabling a further order to be made until a further review hearing.

5. The Legal Assessor gave advice to the Panel, referring in particular to rule 11 of the Rules, to the principles set out in the HCPTS’s Practice Note, Proceeding in Absence of the Registrant, June 2022 and to Brabazon-Drenning v UK Central Council for Nursing, etc [2001] HRLR 6 at [18] and [19] and to GMC v Hayat [2018] EWCA Civ. 2796 at [36].

6. The Panel accepted that the Registrant had a genuine reason why she could not attend or participate in the hearing. Her absence was involuntary. There was a clear and very substantial disadvantage to the Registrant in not attending the hearing and that it would only be appropriate to proceed in her absence if there were very strong public interest considerations why the hearing should proceed.

7. The Panel considered that the imminent expiry of the current order constituted good reason why the hearing should proceed. If an order after 6 June 2025 were justified, the Panel would be acting in breach of the statutory overarching objective if it declined to proceed with the hearing today and so failed to put in place an appropriate order on the Registrant’s registration that may be necessary to protect members of the public. In reaching that conclusion, the Panel bore in mind that on behalf of the HCPC Ms Mertens had made clear that the sole purpose of the hearing would be to make an order for the minimum period necessary to convene a further review of the case so that the Registrant could attend that review.

8. Therefore, the Panel decided to proceed in the absence of the Registrant.

ORDER: The Registrar is directed forthwith to revoke the current order of conditions of practice imposed on the registration of Mrs Katie Davis and forthwith to annotate the HCPC Register to show that for a period of 3 months from 28 May 2025 being the date of this hearing, you, Mrs Katie Davis, must comply with the following conditions of practice: -

1. You must place yourself and remain under the indirect supervision of a workplace supervisor, registered by the HCPC or other appropriate statutory regulator, and supply details of your supervisor to the HCPC within 14 days of starting employment;

2. You must: -

2.1 Follow advice (if any) that may be given to you by your employer to restrict the scope of your practice;

2.2 inform your employer if you suffer a relapse of any of your [REDACTED] health conditions and follow their advice;

3. You must work with your workplace supervisor to ensure that a report is provided to the HCPC 14 days before this order is reviewed. The report should include any incidences where your [PRIVATE] health has impacted on your fitness to practise and what you have done to overcome these difficulties.

The Order imposed today will apply with immediate effect
This Order will be reviewed again before its expiry on 28 August 2025.

Right of Appeal

An appeal may be made to the High Court in England and Wales against the Panel’s decision and the order it has made against you.

Under Articles 30(10) and 38 of the Health Professions Order 2001, any appeal must be made to the court not more than 28 days after the date when this notice is served.

History of Hearings for Katie Davis