Press Release

Occupational therapist  suspended for one year by UK Health regulator.

9 February 2007

A Panel of the Conduct and Competence Committee met on the 6 and 7 of  February 2007 to consider the case of Hayley E Forman  at the Holiday Inn Garden Court in Wolverhampton.

The Panel heard the allegation that the registrant's fitness to practise was impaired by reason of her lack of competence whilst employed by the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust in that she failed to achieve a level of competence expected of a registered Occupational therapist.

Having recently graduated Miss Forman successfully applied for a position as an Occupational therapist at New Cross Hospital and commenced work on 1 December 2004. Within the first two months of her employment concerns about her professional performance were raised. This resulted in her being supported by supervision meetings and when this level of support did not result in an improvement one-to-one direct supervision was provided by a Senior Occupational therapist. The direct one-to-one supervision did not result in any marked improvement and so by November 2005 a decision was made to restrict the duties of Miss Forman to those of an Occupational therapy assistant. This she did in a different clinical area with different colleagues. Even in this restricted role she was unable to perform to the required standard.
Miss Foreman argued that her inability to perform was a result of an excessive workload and bullying in the workplace. The Panel carefully considered this allegation but concluded that the individuals she claimed were bullying her were doing no more than exercising proper concern for patient safety that involved careful monitoring of Miss Forman's performance.

Chair of Panel, Colin Allies said......"The Panel finds on the evidence presented to it that during the whole of the period of her employment Miss Forman’s competence was lacking in the following areas: effective communication, collaborative team working, proper prioritisation and clinical reasoning.  These shortcomings were demonstrated by numerous specific examples. The cumulative effect of them resulted in her being unable to formulate treatment plans. The Panel finds that Miss Forman’s lack of competence represented a potential danger to patients"

The Panel imposed a suspension order for a period of one year.

The Health Professions Council is an independent, UK wide health regulator set up by the Health Professions Order (2001).  The HPC keeps a register for thirteen different health professions and only  registers people who meet the standards it sets for their training, professional skills, behaviour and health. The HPC will take action against people who do not meet these standards or who use a protected title illegally.