General Note
NHS Fife acknowledges and agrees with the importance of regular and timely review of policy/procedure statements and aims to review policies within the timescales set out.
New policies/procedures will be subject to a review date of no more than 1 year from the date of first issue.
Reviewed policies/procedures will have a review date set that is relevant to the content (advised by the author) but will be no longer than 3 years.
If a policy/procedure is past its review date then the content will remain extant until such time as the policy/procedure review is complete and the new version published, or there are national policy or legislative changes.
AGENDA FOR CHANGE (AfC) TERMS AND CONDITIONS BRIEFING
All employees for whom professional registration is a statutory requirement for employment have a duty to maintain their registration status during the course of their employment within NHS Fife. As a member of a profession, the onus is on the individual to ensure that they pay the fees associated with new/renewal of registration and report any failure to re-register with their professional body to their line manager immediately.
It is the responsibility of the employee to ensure that they maintain their registration as is necessary to enable them to practise their profession within NHS Fife. This requirement is also detailed within their contract of employment. In circumstances where an employee allows their registration with their professional body to lapse, it is essential that the Manager adopts a consistent approach when dealing with lapsed registrations. The Lapsed Registration guidance for Managers and associated documents are available to support Managers and ensure a consistent approach is applied across NHS Fife.
When an employee allows their registration to lapse they are no longer able to work in a registered role and must be removed from their registered role immediately. Staff, where possible, should be deployed into a suitable non professional registered role and paid at the relevant band / grade for the period of their lapsed registration. This change will need to be communicated to the employee, correct uniform provided, and eEES/SSTS updated. If there are no unregistered roles available, then the employee will not be paid.
When a Manager is made aware that an individual has allowed their registration to lapse, they should inform their line Manager and head of profession. The Manager should also inform HR and read the Lapsed registration Guidance for Managers found with HR Procedures | NHS Fife.
The Manager should in the first instance have an informal conversation with the employee, and advise that this matter will need to be investigated in line with the Workforce Policies Investigation Process Overview | NHSScotland Careers. Offer supports to the employee where appropriate.
The first formal step is to invite employee to an initial meeting where the investigating Manager explains the investigation process to the employee and answers any questions about the process. No questions are asked regarding lapsed registration at this stage. The employee can choose not to attend the initial meeting.
Following the initial meeting the employee is invited to an investigatory meeting where they are asked questions about their lapsed registration and given the opportunity to respond and give their account of events. The employee is entitled to have a union representative or colleague with them at these meetings. The investigation process is detailed clearly in the Lapsed Registration Managers Guidance Flowchart.
In circumstances where there is evidence produced that confirms the lapsed registration is an error wholly on the part of the professional registration body, or other circumstances e.g. a major banking systems failure, then these will be dealt with on an individual basis with the Line Manager and with HR support. There will be no detriment to the employee, and the employee will be informed of this in their Investigation outcome letter.
On completion of the investigation the Manager will write a report on their findings (template report is available via Workforce Policies Supporting Documents | NHS Scotland ). An outcome to investigation letter will be sent to the employee (template letter below). A referral to a Conduct hearing may be appropriate based on the findings that the employee failed to renew their registration. If the matter is referred to a conduct hearing the Chair at the conduct hearing would advise of the outcome which could include no action, learning outcomes that may fall within Capability policy, level of warning or dismissal. The employee has the right of appeal following receipt of the written outcome of the conduct hearing.
The subsequent return to professional role of the member of staff will be subject to the individual producing satisfactory evidence of registration. Once they are reinstated on the appropriate register, regardless of whether the lapsed registration investigation is still ongoing, pay will be reinstated at the appropriate band / grade from the date on which the employee resumes registered duties. It is the manager’s responsibility to ensure that this is updated on eEES/SSTS to ensure that the individual is paid correctly.
There should be an element of learning throughout this process for the employee, they should be able to consider processes they can put in place to ensure this does not happen again, and show understanding of the seriousness of allowing their registration to lapse, the impact this has on their role, on colleagues, on the service provided to patients and on NHS Fife as a whole. See Professional Registration Policy | NHS Fife.
Investigation Meeting Note Template - Lapsed Registration
Lapsed Registration Managers Guidance Flowchart
Letter 1 Initial Meeting Invite letter - Lapsed Registration
Letter 2 Invite to Investigatory Meeting - Lapsed Resigration
Letter 3 Outcome of Investigation - Lapsed Registration