Being a witness

Witnesses play a vital role in helping us to investigate a concern raised about a pharmacy professional, and the information they provide also helps our committees to decide what should happen to resolve the concern.

If you are asked to be involved in a fitness to practise investigation by giving a witness statement, or to give evidence at hearing, the process is likely to be unfamiliar to you. This page explains what to expect if you are asked to be a witness.

Your case officer will be able to tell you more about the process, if you have any questions.

How witnesses are involved

If you are asked to be a witness, here’s what is involved at each stage of the process. Most cases are dealt with during the first two stages, or without the need for a hearing.

Find out more about each stage

Giving a witness statement

If you are asked to provide a witness statement for a fitness to practise investigation, you can find out more about this in our Giving a witness statement factsheet [PDF 408 KB].  

Find out more about the investigation process

Attending a hearing to give evidence

One of our hearing rooms

One of our hearing rooms

In a small number of cases where there is a serious concern about whether a pharmacy professional can do their job safely and effectively, it’s important to be able to present the evidence at a hearing so a committee can decide what to do to protect patients and the public.

If we ask you to give evidence at a hearing, you can find out more about what you will need to do in our Giving evidence at a hearing factsheet [PDF 383 KB].

You can find out more about getting to the hearing, and what to bring in our guide to attending a hearing [PDF 683 KB].

Your witness liaison officer will be able to tell you more about the process and what we can do to make it easier for you, if you have any questions.

Some of the roles of people involved in a hearing

Some of the roles of people involved in a hearing 

After the hearing

Your witness liaison officer will let you know the outcome of the case. It will be made available to the public in a ‘determination document’, published on our website.

Find out more about what happens after a hearing

Help us to improve

We want to keep improving the experience of being a witness- we will ask you about your experience in an online survey.  We’d be grateful for any feedback you give us, and we will use it to help us improve.