Gerald M Browne

Introduction

Gerald M Browne is a former physiotherapist who was struck off the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) register in February 2026 after a Conduct and Competence Committee panel found his fitness to practise impaired by reason of conviction. Browne had been convicted at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on 7 November 2023 of assault involving abuse of his partner or ex-partner, an offence under Section 1 of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016. He declined to attend his regulatory hearing, telling the HCPC by email that its delays had killed any desire to work as a registered physiotherapist again. The panel proceeded in his absence, found the conviction particular proved, and directed that his name be struck from the register.

Background Information

Browne was registered with the HCPC as a physiotherapist, a regulated allied-health profession whose registrants assess and treat patients with physical conditions, injuries and disabilities. His criminal case was heard in the Scottish courts: domestic abuse carried out against a partner or ex-partner is prosecuted in Scotland as an offence contrary to Section 1 of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016, the statutory offence created specifically to capture abusive behaviour directed at partners and ex-partners. The conviction was returned at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on 7 November 2023. The HCPC referred the case to a Conduct and Competence Committee panel, which listed a final hearing for 27 February 2026 and served notice of the hearing on Browne more than 28 days in advance.

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Adjudicated: convicted, then struck off. The conviction at Jedburgh Sheriff Court on 7 November 2023 is a matter of criminal court record. The striking off order of February 2026 is the HCPC’s separate regulatory consequence, determined on the civil standard; the panel made no new criminal findings.

The HCPC served notice of the February 2026 hearing on Browne on 15 December 2025, with the service bundle containing the notice of hearing and evidence of delivery. The day before the hearing, Browne emailed the Hearings Officer confirming he would not attend, referencing that he had said so in previous correspondence and giving no reason other than a lack of desire to engage; he did not seek an adjournment or indicate he might attend at a future date. In an earlier email dated 17 December 2025 he had written that he would “not be attending your ‘hearing’”, with the regulator’s delays having, in his words, “killed any desire to work as a Registered Physiotherapist again.” The HCPC submitted that he had intentionally absented himself and waived his right to attend, and that any unfairness was outweighed by the public interest in proceeding without further delay. The panel, accepting legal advice and the regulator’s practice notes on proceeding in absence, found service good and elected to hear the case. The allegation was that his fitness to practise was impaired by reason of the November 2023 conviction. The panel found that particular proved.

Public Reaction and Consequences

On sanction, the panel concluded that a striking off order was appropriate and proportionate. It observed that Browne’s own engagement made a different conclusion effectively impossible, and acknowledged that the sanction would carry a punitive professional, personal and financial impact, while noting it was unclear how far his circumstances arose directly and exclusively from these proceedings. The panel judged that imposing the sanction would ensure continued public protection, serve the wider public interest, uphold public confidence in the regulatory process, and maintain the reputation of the profession and its regulator. The Registrar was directed to strike Browne from the register. His non-attendance email, quoted in the published decision, stands as his only recorded response to the proceedings that ended his career.

Current Status

Browne was struck off on 27 February 2026, the single listed day of his final hearing. He is no longer a registered physiotherapist and cannot practise under the protected title while the order stands. Because he announced in advance that he would not attend and gave no indication of future engagement, the decision record contains no mitigation, no expression of remorse and no rehabilitative steps for the panel to weigh, beyond his own stated loss of desire to remain in the profession. The conviction itself remains a matter of the Scottish criminal record, and the panel’s finding of impairment rests on it. The identity of the partner he was convicted of abusing has been kept out of the published regulatory record.

Impact on Their Career/Life

The order ends his registered clinical career outright: no employer can engage him as a physiotherapist while the striking off order is in force, and a return would require a restoration application to a future panel years later. The case shows how a registrant’s disengagement accelerates the end of a regulatory case rather than stalling it, with the panel proceeding in absence after finding good service, and treating the conviction as sufficient foundation for the most severe sanction. It also illustrates the Scottish domestic-abuse statute reaching into a regulated profession months after the criminal case closed: the court decided guilt in 2023, and the regulator removed the registration in 2026 once the file reached a hearing. For Browne, the combination of conviction and striking off forecloses the profession permanently in practical terms.

Sources

• HCPTS, “Gerald M Browne — Final Hearing, Conduct and Competence Committee, Struck off,” February 2026. source