Scapegoat: An autoethnography of a care professional who became de-registered following regulatory body fitness-to-practise proceedings.

Abstract

There is little understanding of the impact of UK Statutory Regulatory Bodies’ Fitness-to-Practise (FtP) procedures upon health and social care professionals who go through the system. Empirical research related to the emotional and psychological effects on care professionals is sparse. To date, no research has been undertaken in relation to the impact of de-registration on a pharmacy professional. This thesis is an autoethnography that explores my own experience of professional de-registration and learning to cope with the threat to identity. At its core this study sought to understand the human experience of going through the present-day professional regulatory system. It turns the inspecting lens back on itself to help reveal a personal reality of state regulation and how it worked in practice. By using my own experience of the FtP process, between de-registration and application for restoration, I explore through first person narrative, the complex issues involved and my emotional life during this transformative period. The impact that the interruption to my career caused as well as perceptions held about the newly acquired ‘bad apple’ status are captured through autobiographical writing and presented as a sequenced vignette series. The thesis then considers narrative structures present in the series borrowing from the dominant narrative structures of the illness narrative, namely chaos, restitution and quest. This approach shows the relationship between narrative and culture, and the complexity of regulating professional misconduct to protect the public whilst also having consideration for the well-being of the professional registrant. This study finds that the current FtP process could do more to minimise the emotional suffering of future registrants. The work considers what improvements could be made in the current FtP process to ensure the safety of both patients and health care professionals.