Nursing And Midwifery Council v Chiles

The court may extend an interim suspension order where the existing order is due to expire before the substantive disciplinary hearing can be completed. The extension must be considered against the procedural history and the circumstances affecting the progress of the case. Where ill health is relied upon to seek a further adjournment, the tribunal should consider the application fully and ordinarily require medical evidence; a medical certificate alone may be insufficient where the factual background calls for fuller evidence.

The Nursing and Midwifery Council applied for a further extension of an interim suspension order imposed on 19 March 2013 and previously extended by the court on 14 March 2014. The order was due to expire on 18 October 2014. A disciplinary hearing had been listed for 3 to 7 November 2014, and the Council sought an extension until 17 February 2015. The respondent did not appear.

The court also considered the age of the allegations and the possibility that the respondent might seek an adjournment on grounds of ill health.

1. The application to extend the interim suspension order from 18 October 2014 to 17 February 2015 was granted. The substantive hearing was listed for 3 to 7 November 2014.
2. The allegations concerned alleged failures in managerial duties between March 2008 and July 2011. The registrant had been suspended since March 2013, so the disciplinary case was becoming significantly aged. That procedural history was relevant to any future application for a further extension.
3. If an application to adjourn or extend time were made on grounds of ill health, it would have to be considered fully by the appropriate tribunal member or members. The court indicated that such an application should ordinarily be supported by medical evidence. In the circumstances, a medical certificate alone would not necessarily suffice.
4. Any future application for a further extension would require careful consideration of whether the inability to complete the hearing within the allocated period resulted from reasonable consideration of reasonable grounds for an adjournment or from other reasonable causes.

The judgment records that the interim suspension order was originally imposed on 19 March 2013 and had been extended by the court on 14 March 2014. The present application for a further extension was granted.