I heard this podcast on the weekend and feel it should be mandatory listening for all regulators and regulated professionals! It's about a very senior civil servant who lived a blameless life until his late 30s, when he accidentally left top secret files on a train. Ultimately, he was demoted, lost his security clearance and got a conviction for breaching the Official Secrets Act. There are many interesting nuggets in the podcast, but I was particularly struck by a few which could have come from almost any #FitnessToPractise case: ~ How he initially handled his mistake (with a lack of immediate candour) only made things worse and was a reminder that how you handle any mistake is often much more important than the error itself. ~ The feelings of absolute worthlessness and despair, and his serious contemplation of suicide (over an inadvertent error), is something which we see time and again. Regulators need to be reminded that the purpose of fitness to practise proceedings is not to punish (it's public protection). Often the regulated individual is the most vulnerable individual in the picture and needs to be treated accordingly - or, at least, treated humanely. ~ You can get through pretty much anything. bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m00333…