Research: Witness to harm

Research summary

• September 2021 – February 2024

The project aims to improve the experience of witnesses in misconduct hearings of health and social care professionals.

Research into court cases has shown that the re-telling of traumatic events and cross-examination can cause victims and witnesses additional trauma and distress.

So far, there has been little investigation of the impact on those taking part in professional misconduct hearings.

Thirteen regulators in the UK ensure over 1.5 million health and social care professionals practise safely and act appropriately. If they fail to meet the standards, health and social care professionals may face a fitness to practise (FTP) investigation and hearing.

In 2019/20 there were close to 2,800 such hearings by 10 regulators working under the Professional Standards Authority.

This is the first independently funded multi-regulator research into the experience of public witnesses involved in FTP investigations.

Objectives

The study aims to understand the expectations and experiences of witnesses in FTP cases, including what support they receive from the regulator and what would improve the process for them.

It focuses on cases of misconduct where the witness – or a member of their family – suffered lasting physical or psychological harm. This includes sexual abuse, harassment and bullying, theft and fraud, and clinical damage.

Methodology

We will involve public witnesses, employers, regulators, lawyers, and patient advisory and professional bodies in this study.

We will:

• survey witnesses to understand their experience of the regulatory process, from the decision to investigate to final hearing
• review the materials that regulators use to explain their process and support witnesses
• interview members of the public who are seeking advice about harm
• interview employers about the support they provide, and what they expect the regulator to do to support their staff
• interview vulnerable witnesses about the support they received from regulators
• conduct a retrospective analysis of case studies involving harm in the last five years
• conduct an ethnographic study of fitness to practise hearings
• conduct in-depth interviews with people who have given evidence at fitness to practise hearings
• analyse and discuss the results with members of our advisory groups
• co-produce resources and recommendations for regulators, employers, educators of registrants, health and social care professional bodies, and regulatory lawyers

Expected outputs and outcomes

The main beneficiaries of this work will be the public, professional regulators, employers, and health and care professionals.

We will produce:

• reports for health and care organisations, professional regulators, and the Care Quality Commission
• film and audio resources describing the experience of witnesses, and how this might be improved, which will be hosted on healthtalk.org and socialcaretalk.org
• podcasts episodes and social media posts, reflecting on the research and findings
• a free, eight-hour course to help health and social care professionals understand the regulatory process and its impact on patients, service users and colleagues, hosted on https://www.open.edu/openlearn
• a seminar to help regulators, health and care professionals, and the Professional Standards Authority engage with our findings
• a webinar or workshop in Scotland examining the issues raised for the regulation of social care under a devolved government
• academic and professional papers and presentations explaining our research to policy, regulatory, and patient safety bodies across the UK