Health and Care Professions Council determination — substantive hearing
HCPTS panel suspends Linda Joyce for six months after drink-driving conviction
An HCPTS panel suspended speech and language therapist Linda Joyce for six months after finding her fitness to practise impaired on public-interest grounds following a drink-driving conviction.
MedicWatch editorial · Published 18 January 2024 · Updated 23 September 2026
Suspension (suspended from practice) — 6 months
Data last checked: 23 September 2026Report a correction
What does “suspended from practice” mean?
The regulator imposed a fixed-term suspension in this decision. Its start date, appeal provisions and any later review affect whether it is currently in force. Check the official register for the practitioner's current status.
Concerning Linda Joyce, speech and language therapist (Health and Care Professions Council SL06003).
Decision date: 18 January 2024 · Hearing started 17 January 2024 and ended 18 January 2024
In plain English
The HCPTS panel found that Linda Joyce's fitness to practise was impaired on public-interest grounds after her drink-driving conviction. It found no appreciable risk of repetition, noting her insight and remorse, but said the offence's seriousness required a sanction to maintain public confidence. The panel suspended the speech and language therapist for six months.
Charges
Linda Joyce was convicted at Humber Magistrates' Court on 21 April 2021 of driving with 99 microgrammes of alcohol in 100 millilitres of breath, against a legal limit of 35, after crashing into a lamp post on 28 February 2021. The HCPC alleged that her fitness to practise was impaired by reason of the conviction.
Findings
The panel found the conviction proved and found Linda Joyce's fitness to practise impaired on the public component. It found no appreciable risk of repetition and no impairment on the personal component, but concluded that the seriousness of the drink-driving offence required a finding of impairment to maintain public confidence and uphold professional standards. It imposed a six-month suspension order.
Mitigating and aggravating factors
Mitigating factors
the stress factors to which reference has already been made that preceded the offence and undoubtedly contributed to the Registrant's inappropriate use of alcohol; the Registrant pleaded guilty to the charge in the Magistrates' Court, has engaged in these fitness to practise proceedings and admitted the fact of the conviction at this hearing; the Registrant has demonstrated genuine remorse; the Registrant has made real efforts to address the underlying causes [redacted].
Aggravating factors
the circumstances of the drink driving; it was driving with a level of alcohol that massively exceeded the legal limit, and driving that exposed members of the public (and the Registrant herself) to a very real risk of physical harm.
Source
All facts on this page are drawn from the publicly published Health and Care Professions Council determination linked below. MedicWatch does not editorialise the regulator’s findings.
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