Community Care
reports that a newly qualified social worker has had a period of suspension, for
failing to manage her workload, increased by the HCPC. Apparently she suffered
bereavement following her original suspension and, as a result, she had not
been able to undertake activities (such as employment, voluntary work or
training) that might have allowed her to demonstrate that she had taken steps
to acquire the competencies that she was said to lack.
I really struggle with the idea that a professional
regulator should be dealing with this sort of case. It should concern itself
with dealing with serious deliberate wrongdoing. Under-performance should be a matter for agency management
and is usually best addressed by support and retraining, not disciplinary
proceedings.
