We know that being a witness in a fitness to practise investigation can be upsetting. We ask witnesses to give a written statement and sometimes we also ask them to give evidence at a hearing.
Witnesses give their statement to either a fitness to practise investigator, solicitor or precognition assistant. They will contact the witness in advance to make the arrangements for taking the statement. Witnesses can let us know if they would prefer to give the statement over the phone or in person, the best date and time and anything else that may help make giving their statement more comfortable.
Hearings
If a witness is due to give evidence at a fitness to practise hearing, one of our solicitors will contact them to discuss what to expect.
We assign a hearings officer to provide the witness with support before, during and after the hearing. All our hearings officers are trained mental health first aiders. This means they have an in depth understanding of mental health and the practical skills to assist witnesses who are distressed.
If the hearing is being held online, the hearings officer will call the witness before the hearing to have a test call on the system and answer any questions. If the hearing is being held in our Dundee office, we can arrange for a witness to visit the office beforehand to see the hearing room and make sure they are comfortable.
A hearings officer is present in every hearing to support the running of the hearing and there will be a second hearings officer at the hearing to provide support to witnesses.
Training
We are training all our fitness to practise and hearings staff to become trauma aware, which will enable them to offer more support to witnesses.
Read more information on Attending a hearing on our website and in our fitness to practise factsheets 15, 19 and 21.