Disciplinary Committee hearings

Disciplinary Hearings are the culmination of the RCVS concerns procedure.

The RCVS Disciplinary Committee (DC) hear cases relating to registered veterinary surgeons and the Veterinary Nurse Disciplinary Committee (VN DC) hear cases relating to registered veterinary nurses both follow court procedures. Complaints must be proven to the highest civil standard of proof ie the Committee must be satisfied 'so as to be sure' the facts have occurred as alleged by the College. The Committee must also be satisfied that the facts as proved amount to serious professional misconduct.

Guidance on the Disciplinary Committee’s functions, decision-making, and approach to sanctions can be found in the “Disciplinary Committee Sanctions Guidance for Veterinary Surgeons cases” which was re-issued in August 2020 and is used as an aid to decision making at Disciplinary Hearings. This guidance document (available to download from the bottom of this page) should be read in conjunction with the 'Disciplinary Committee Manual,' re-issued in September 2013.

If you are attending a hearing as a witness, or would like an overview of the procedure of a Disciplinary Hearing you can read our section on 'Being a witness at a Disciplinary Committee hearing – frequently asked questions' for further information.

If found guilty of serious professional misconduct and ordered to be suspended or struck off the Register, a veterinary surgeon may appeal to the Privy Council within 28 days. If appealed, the order does not take effect unless and until it is upheld by the Privy Council.

If found guilty of serious professional misconduct and ordered to be suspended or struck off the Register, a registered veterinary nurse may at any time within 28 days from the notice of direction, lodge an appeal which will be considered in accordance with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons Veterinary Nurse Conduct and Discipline Rules 2014.

Disciplinary Committee hearings are generally conducted in public although some evidence may be heard in private where the Committee consider it appropriate.

Veterinary surgeons and RVNs who have appeared before the DC during the last 3 years are as follows:

2022
2021
2020

2023

Date	Respondent	Documents	Notes
06/11/23	B, a Registered Veterinary Nurse	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release	The Disciplinary Committee's findings and decisions have been anonymised due to exceptional circumstances
09/10/23	Kalisz, Sylwia	Decision on Sanction Decision on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision on Facts Press Release
28/09/23	Wood, Simon Peter	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Application of the Applicant for Restoration to the Register Press release
18/09/23	Grecko, Alina	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts Press Release
04/09/23	Butnaru, Vlad		The hearing has been adjourned and will shortly be re-listed.
31/07/23	Herdman, Melanie	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press Release
20/07/23	Dobson, Andrew	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Application of the Applicant for Restoration to the Register Press Release
03/07/23	Paschalidis, Stavros	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Findings of Fact Press release
29/06/23	Seymour-Hamilton, Warwick John	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Application of the Applicant for Registration to the Register Press release
19/06/23	Antonovs, Pavels	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release
24/04/23	Wicksteed, Joanna	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Finding of Facts Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Fitness to Practice and Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release
27/03/23	Morris, Libby	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Finding of Facts Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release
20/03/23	Power, Katharine	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Findings of Fact Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Press release	This hearing covered proceedings from the adjourned hearings on 28 November 2022 and 20 February 2023.
09/03/23	Burrows, Nicola	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Application of the Applicant for Restoration to the Register Press release
20/02/23	Hutton, Simon	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts and Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release

2022

Date	Respondent	Documents	Notes
01/12/22	Gracey, James	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on abuse of process and admissibility Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Findings of Fact Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release	This hearing covered proceedings from the adjourned hearing on 22 July 2022.
01/11/22	Johnston, Donal	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts and Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release	This hearing covered proceedings from the adjourned hearing on 28 April 2022.
25/10/22	A, a Registered Veterinary Nurse	Annex A Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release	The Disciplinary Committee’s findings and decisions have been anonymised due to exceptional circumstances.
27/09/22	Heyes, Katherine	Charge Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
22/09/22	Prichard, Stephen	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
21/09/22	Strangeway, Chelsea Jade	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Proceeding in Absence Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts and Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release
02/09/22	Dyson, Sue	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Application of the Applicant for Restoration to the Register Press release
22/08/22	Hazelwood, Stephanie	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
14/06/22	McKinstry, Alexander Rutherford, Andrew Inman, Rebecca	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts and Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanctions Press release
08/06/22	Seymour-Hamilton, Warwick John	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Application of the Applicant for Restoration to the Register Press release
25/05/22	Doherty, Daniel	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts and Unfitness to Practise Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Respondent's Application for Recusal Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release	This hearing covered proceedings from the adjourned hearing on 6 April 2022.
25/04/22	Roger, Paul Anderson	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts Press release	This hearing covered proceedings from the adjourned hearing on 19 November 2021.
24/03/22	Registered Nurse	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Proceeding in Absence and Finding of Facts Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect and Sanction	Due to exceptional circumstances, the Disciplinary Committee's findings and decisions in this case have been anonymised, and no press release has been issued.
23/03/22	Mostert, Dr Craig	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release	Mr Mostert lodged an appeal against the Disciplinary Committee decision with the Privy Council on 28 April 2022 and he remained on the Register pending the outcome of the appeal. The appeal has now been withdrawn.
10/03/22	Surdila, Dr Claudia Elena	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
07/03/22	Hill, Dr Anke	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
14/02/22	Dingemanse, Dr Walter	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
31/01/22	Mullen, Anne Mary	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Proceeding in Absence Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Facts Decision of the Disciplinary Committee as to Disgraceful Conduct Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Sanction Press release
12/01/22	Botes, Marthinus Ryk	Decision of Finding Facts and Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision on Sanction Press release	Dr Botes lodged an appeal against the Disciplinary Committee decision with the Privy Council on 10 February 2022 and he remained on the Register pending the outcome of the appeal. The appeal has now been withdrawn.

2021

Date	Respondent	Documents	Notes
17/12/21	Samuel, Gary James Cassius	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
04/08/21	Dobson, Andrew Michael	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee Press release
21/07/21	Padron Vega, Laura	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Application of the Applicant for Restoration to the Register Press release
09/07/21	Dyson, Sue	Decision of Finding of Facts, Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect and Sanction Press release	This hearing covered proceedings from the adjourned hearing on 13 November 2020.
25/06/21	Seymour-Hamilton, Warwick J.	Decision of the Committee on Application for Restoration Press release
22/06/21	Henry, Louise	Charges Decision on Finding of Facts, Disgraceful Conduct and Sanction Press release
16/06/21	Benson, Laura	Decision on Facts and on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision on Sanction Press release
26/05/21	Eccles, David Henry	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee at the Resumed Hearing Following Postponement of Judgement Press release	A judgement was postponed by the Disciplinary Committee on 6 November 2018. The hearing resumed on 26 May 2021.
18/05/21	Chalkley, David	Decision Press release
11/05/21	Burrows, Nicola Jade	Charges Decision on Sanction Decision on Facts and on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Press release
04/03/21	X Registered Nurse	Charges Decision Press release
01/03/21	Fures, Vanja	Charges Decision on Findings of Fact Decision of the Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Respondent's Application to Dispose of the Case by Adjournment of the Inquiry and Undertakings Decision on Sanction Press release
25/02/21	Crawford, Andrew Robert	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Respondent's Application to Dispose of the Case by Adjournment of the Inquiry and Undertakings Undertakings Press release
20/01/21	Hancock, Karen Tracey	Charges Decision on Findings of Fact Decision on Disgraceful Conduct in a Professional Respect Decision on Sanction Press release

2020

Date	Respondent	Documents	Notes
14/12/20	Chalkley, David	Charges Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Respondent's Application to Dispose of the Case by Adjournment of the Inquiry and Undertakings Press release
09/12/20	Padron Vega, Laura	Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Application for Restoration Press release

Date

Respondent

Documents

Notes

14/12/20

Chalkley, David

Charges

Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on the Respondent's Application to Dispose of the Case by Adjournment of the Inquiry and Undertakings

Press release

09/12/20

Padron Vega, Laura

Decision of the Disciplinary Committee on Application for Restoration