A social worker has been removed from the Register of Social Care Workers after a review hearing found his fitness to practise was currently impaired.
Muhammad Tahseen was suspended for 12 months by the Health and Care Professions Tribunal Service (HCPTS) in 2017, after it found Mr Tahseen’s fitness to practise was impaired because of serious misconduct.
Mr Tahseen had dishonestly provided a recruitment agency with a false email address for a reference and then provided a false reference from that address.
Following HCPTS’s decision, a Social Care Wales fitness to practise panel decided to also suspend Mr Tahseen for 12 months and conditions were placed on his registration.
In January 2019, a Social Care Wales fitness to practise review panel met to review whether Mr Tahseen had complied with the conditions imposed.
The panel decided that while Mr Tahseen had complied with the conditions, it wasn’t satisfied he’d taken steps to remedy his dishonesty or shown any insight into his behaviour.
The review panel decided to revoke the conditions placed on Mr Tahseen’s registration and suspend him for another 12 months with recommendations.
Earlier this week, a Social Care Wales review panel met to review Mr Tahseen’s progress in meeting the recommendations made in January 2019.
The panel found that Mr Tahseen had failed to follow the recommendations made by the previous panel and decided that, as a result, his fitness to practise was currently impaired.
Explaining its decision, the review panel said: “We are disappointed to note that Mr Tahseen has failed to follow any of the recommendations of the previous fitness to practise panel.”
The panel continued: “We have not been provided with any information from Mr Tahseen that reassures us that he has remedied his shortcomings prior to today’s hearing.
“We consider that Mr Tahseen presents a risk to individuals using services and his actions have undermined public confidence in the social care profession.
“We also find that his integrity cannot be relied upon and he has breached one of the fundamental tenets of the social care profession.”
The panel decided to remove Mr Tahseen from the Register in Wales, saying: “Mr Tahseen’s behaviour involved dishonesty, which is particularly serious because it may undermine trust in social care services.
“Mr Tahseen has demonstrated a persistent lack of insight into the seriousness of his actions and a serious departure from the relevant professional standards set out in the Code of Professional Practice for Social Care. We do not consider there is any other way to protect the public.”
Mr Tahseen was not present at the one-day review hearing earlier this week.