Policy on dealing with Alert letters

When an alert letter is received by Direct Medics Ltd. from either DHSSPS or NMC and relating to a nurse on the company register, the following will apply:

A presumption of innocence is made relating to the nurse under investigation during the relevant enquiry.
A notification is made to the Registered Manager as to the presence and nature of the alert.
The Head of Compliance is responsible for checking the company register to confirm whether the nurse under investigation is registered for work; for recording candidate's alert number, name and date of alert on the company Alerts record; for saving the alert letter in the company datastore and, for any candidates currently registered, for recording the following as an Alert on the candidate file, "Inform Head of Compliance if candidate asks to be considered for work". If the candidate asks to be considered for work, the Head of Compliance is responsible for following the directions contained in the Alert notice.
Any changes to the nurse’s NMC and resulting restrictions must be carefully considered by the Registered Manager in the context of booking the nurse for assignments during the investigation. All changes to NMC registration because of a live investigation must be made explicit to the client organisation when putting the nurse forward for consideration for an assignment, and no nurse under suspension is permitted to be booked for an assignment.
The Compliance team is responsible for checking new registrations within the nursing division against the company’s Alert list. If an alert is in existence, the Head of Compliance is informed, who in turn is responsible for recording an Alert on the candidate file as per above.
When an Alert cancellation notice is received, the Head of Compliance is responsible for deleting the original Alert notice letter, removing the Alert from the candidate record (if applicable) and removing the Alert from the Alerts spreadsheet.