The Nursing and Midwifery Order (Legal Assessors) (Amendment) and the Nursing and Midwifery Council (Fitness to Practise) (Amendment) Rules Order of Council 2017

Amendments to the Nursing and Midwifery Council (Fitness to Practise) Rules 2004

24.  In rule 19 (public and private hearings)—

(a) for paragraph (2), substitute—

“(2) Subject to paragraph (2A), a hearing before the Fitness to Practise Committee which relates solely to an allegation concerning the registrant’s physical or mental health must be conducted in private.”;

(b) after paragraph (2), insert—

“(2A) All or part of the hearing referred to in paragraph (2) may be held in public where the Fitness to Practise Committee—

(a) having given the parties, and any third party whom the Committee considers it appropriate to hear, an opportunity to make representations; and

(b) having obtained the advice of the legal assessor,

is satisfied that the public interest or the interests of any third party outweigh the need to protect the privacy or confidentiality of the registrant.”.