Before a review, if we receive information about the practice of a nurse or midwife suggesting that there has been further misconduct, poor practice or difficulties caused by health or lack of knowledge of English, since the order was put in place, we have to decide whether a panel should be made aware of the new allegation as part of the review, or whether we should treat the information as a new referral.

If we decide to treat the information as a new referral we will refer it to our screening team. Screening will consider whether there should be a new investigation into the nurse or midwife’s fitness to practise. Generally, we would make the reviewing panel aware of the new information when:

• it relates to the existing order, for example it suggests that there may have been a breach of conditions of practice
• the original case arose due to clinical or competence concerns, and the new information suggests that errors or poor practice similar to those previously proved have occurred again
• it relates to health, for example it suggests that the nurse or midwife’s health condition (already established before a practice committee) has deteriorated.