Nikita McNeill

Professional Discipline

Nikita has experience of both presenting and defending in cases across a number of professional regulators.

Nikita has extensive experience of proceedings before the Nursing and Midwifery Council, including representing registrants in complex cases involving the death of vulnerable patients. She also appears on behalf of doctors before the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Services.

Nikita has appeared regularly before the ACCA, both on behalf of the regulator and representing registrants. She has presented cases against teachers for the National College of Teaching and Learning.

She was instructed by a leading professional regulation firm to review and provide advice upon proceedings before the General Pharmaceutical Society relating to the largest pharmaceutical fraud investigated by the MHRA.

Notable Cases:

NMC v CR

Fitness to Practise

Nikita represented one of eight nurses facing FtP proceedings following medications errors which culminated in a patient’s death. The patient, admitted with a pulmonary embolism, did not receive his anti-coagulant medication for 4 days. The patient subsequently died of what was believed to be a new pulmonary embolism and inquest recorded a finding of neglect, before referring the nurses to the NMC. Following an independent pathological expert report and cross-examination of the original pathologist, the cause of death was shown to have been incorrect and the charges against Nikita’s client were dismissed at the close of the NMC’s case. Nikita is currently representing all nurses involved in an application to the Attorney General for a Fiat to overturn the inquest findings.

NMC v AC

Fitness to Practise

Nikita represented a registered nurse and care home manager who faced over 40 allegations relating to medications errors, safeguarding concerns and dishonesty that occurred over a 6 month period and resulted in the care home being placed into special measures. Following a 2 year investigation and 3 weeks of hearing all dishonesty charges and medications errors were dismissed and, ultimately, no impairment was found based upon the remaining management errors.

ACCA v ML

Fitness to Practise

Nikita represented an accountant facing 5 allegations of misconduct, including two of dishonesty, before the ACCA. The allegations centred on a criminal conviction he had received for Assaulting a Police Officer and his subsequent failure both to declare the conviction upon registration (dishonestly it was alleged) and failure to refer himself to the ACCA. Following legal submissions the ACCA offered no evidence on the two allegation relating to self-referral. At a hearing the committee of the ACCA found the remaining two allegations, including that of dishonesty, for failing to declare the conviction unproved. The ACCA agreed with Nikita’s submissions that the ACCA’s own process, in part, led to the omission.

GPhC v JQ

Fitness to Practise

The registrant had been charged in criminal proceedings as a party to the largest pharmaceutical fraud the UK has seen in which counterfeit medicines, including those for cancer, had infiltrated the NHS. Following acquittal in the criminal proceedings Nikita was instructed by the General Pharmaceutical Council to work, together with the MHRA, to consider in excess of 20,000 pages of evidence to advice upon proceedings before the GPhC.