New Emotional Support Service for Registrants Involved in Fitness to Practise Cases

We recognise that going through the Fitness to Practise (FtP) process can cause significant stress and worry. To help support our registrants during this time, we have launched a new Emotional Support Service.

This service is provided by CiC, an independent and confidential organisation specialising in emotional wellbeing. It is available to all registrants involved in an FtP case at both the Investigating Committee (IC) and Professional Conduct Committee (PCC) stages.

What support is available?

• 24/7 Freephone Careline: Immediate access to a qualified counsellor to talk about how the process is affecting you.
• Short-Term Counselling: If clinically appropriate, registrants may be referred for up to six sessions of face-to-face or virtual counselling.
• Practical Support: Counsellors can also offer advice and signposting to other helpful services or legal information where needed.

All calls to the careline are confidential. The GCC will only receive anonymised information about how often the service is accessed – CiC will not share any personal details with us.

Our equivalent service for patients is provided by a separate organisation (the charity Victim Support) as we believe patients have different needs, and we want to minimise the risk of a counsellor being asked to provide emotional support to more than one person involved in a case.

How can I access the Service?

Registrants can self-refer by calling the freephone careline or by requesting a call-back via email. The contact details for the service will be shared directly with registrants during the FtP process, or you can ask the Fitness to Practise team, or your Professional Association for the contact details.

We hope this new service will provide meaningful support to registrants during what we know can be a challenging and difficult time.

If you have any questions about the Emotional Support Service, please do get in touch.