Sample WMS FtP Committee Outcome letter – fitness to practise impaired

This sample letter provides an indication of the general layout only and is subject to regular review. The content of each letter is tailored to the specific circumstances, bespoke elements are in italics, explanatory notes are in bold.

Date

Student name

Student email address

Dear Student,

Fitness to Practise Committee Meeting (date) – outcome

20XX cohort, Year X, Student number1234567

Thank you for attending the WMS Fitness to Practise Committee on date. This letter is to confirm the determination arrived at by the Committee and to provide you with further details.

The WMS Fitness to Practise Committee was constituted and conducted in accordance with University Regulation 34 Determination of Fitness to Practise. The Committee considered your case with reference to the General Medical Council’s (GMC) guidance on Achieving Good Medical Practice: guidance for medical students and GMC and Medical Schools’ Council (MSC) guidance: Professional behaviour and fitness to practise: guidance for medical schools and their students.  

The purpose of the hearing was to explore any potential fitness to practise concerns associated with the reason(s) why you were referred to the WMS FtP Committee.

Determinations The possible outcomes are described in Regulation 34 Determination of Fitness to Practise, and can be summarised as:

(3) (c) Fit to practise;

(3) (d) Adjourned to enable further information to be gathered;

(3) (e) Evidence of misconduct, FtP not impaired, warning issued;

(3) (f) Fitness to practise is impaired and sanctions applied:

(i) Warnings, conditions or undertakings;

(ii) Suspension from the course or withholding the award for up to 60 days;

(iii) Termination of registration;

(iv) Transfer to an alternative non-practising qualification;

(v) Withholding of the award of the original degree.

For the purposes of this sample letter, a Year 2 student’s fitness to practise has been found impaired through misconduct and Regulation 34 sanction (3) (f) (i) has been applied.

The Committee determined that your fitness to practise was impaired through misconduct, and that Regulation 34 sanction (3) (f) (i) should be applied: Warnings, conditions or undertakings, to enable the student to demonstrate that they can assure their fitness to practise as a result of taking specific actions:

1. Description of warnings, conditions or undertakings

2. Description continued etc.

The Committee will review your adherence to the warnings, conditions or undertakings and any associated documentation at the meeting on date, at which it may make further determinations. You will be invited to attend.

The Committee made the following determinations on the remaining sanctions under Regulation 34 (3) (f) (the reasons for not applying the remaining sanctions are described here):

(ii) Suspension from the course or withholding the award of a degree for a period of normally no longer than 60 days, until additional evidence is available, in which case the Committee will reconvene to consider the evidence.

Explanation.

(iii) Termination of registration of the student if their behaviour or health is fundamentally incompatible with continuing on the course or practising in the profession.

Explanation.

(iv) Transfer to an alternative non-practising qualification appropriate to the learning of the student (as listed in Regulation 34, Appendix B).

Explanation.

(v) Withholding of the award of the original degree from the student and consideration being given by the relevant Board of Examiners for the award of an alternative qualification, based on the student’s academic performance.

Explanation.

Reasons for the Committee’s determinations

This section of the letter reflects the meeting minutes and the Committee’s deliberations.

Reasons for impairment.

This section of the letter describes in detail the specific reason(s) for impairment quoting examples from the papers, the discussion, the performance of the student during the meeting and the conclusions drawn by the Committee during their deliberation period after the meeting.

GMC and MSC Guidance

The reasons for impairment described above align to specific elements of the GMC and MSC Guidance and these are cited below.

This section of the letter describes in detail how the reasons for impairment align to specific elements of GMC Guidance:

• Professional behaviour and fitness to practise: guidance for medical schools and their students;
• Outcomes for graduates 2018;
• Achieving good medical practice: guidance for medical students.

Right to appeal (Students only have the right to appeal if their fitness to practise has been found impaired).

You have the right to appeal against the Committee’s determination in line with Regulation 34 (6)-(12). If you wish to appeal, you should contact the Students’ Union Advice Centre for support and your appeal should be submitted in writing (there is no appeal form) by (ten working days from the date of this letter) to:

Academic Registrar

University House

University of Warwick

Coventry

CV4 8UW

E-mail: academicregistrar@warwick.ac.uk

Sharing and retention of records

Internal notification and retention

The outcome of this process and relevant documentation will be shared with Student Records at the University of Warwick to enable your student record to be amended and with other university officers for recording or further action as required. The documentation will be retained by the University in accordance with the University’s Records Retention Schedule.

External notification and retention

The outcome of this process and relevant documentation will be shared with the GMC and any recognised professional, statutory or regulatory bodies for the alerting of fitness to practise issues.

You are required to include this determination in your application for provisional GMC registration in line with current GMC Guidance.

The Committee appreciates that this will be a difficult time for you and you should seek support from the WMS Student Support Team, the Students’ Union and the University’s Wellbeing Support Services. Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any queries.

Yours sincerely,

N A Stockton
Secretary, WMS Fitness to Practise Committee

Cc: MB ChB Administration

Student Support, WMS

 Other university staff as required, dependent upon circumstances

Appendix:

Redacted minutes of the meeting of the WMS FtP Committee held on date (Student only).