who we are
Meet the CiC committee
Our Committee has a wealth of experience across a broad range of healthcare practices.
The main team consists of:
Pat Dwan
Committee Chair
Pat originally trained as a Mental Health Nurse in the 1970s.
He became a union activist with COHSE, elected to their National Executive Committee whilst continuing to nurse. From there he moved to the National Executive of UNISON and was eventually elected to a role in the UKCC.
Once it became the NMC, he chaired Fitness to Practice and Health Committees and had a stint as chair of the NMC Council.
Pat has also sat as a Magistrate in both Magistrates and Crown Courts.
His final nursing post was as a Specialist Mental Health Nurse working with the homeless and vulnerably housed in Swansea, the first and only such role in the UK.
Pat has given many nurses informal support through the FtP process and is enthusiastic to help NMCWatch as he has seen what does and doesn’t work with the NMC processes, and is keen to assist improvement.
Pat joins our Committee as chair and also as the lead for complaints, should they arise.
Cathryn Watters
Founder and Director
Referred to the NMC in 2017, Cathryn challenged a strike-off order and managed to get her registration back after self-litigating in the High Court.
“This opened my eyes to how frightening the experience is and how easily you can lose your career. My vision for NMCW is to ensure no one has to go through the process on their own.”
Read more of Cathryn’s story here about why she founded NMCWatch.
Peter Bates
Director of Finance
Peter is a retired social researcher with a background in geography and economics. He has been a member of the Institute of Information Scientists, Market Research Society and the Royal Statistical Society.
He worked on research and policy issues in higher education and in local government, and finally for a charity which advised voluntary groups that support disabled people. Peter has a wider interest in health as chair of a Patient Participation Group, and as lay member of a Faculty of the RCGP.
He became interested in NMCWatch after his daughter went through a drawn-out process which ended with the panel concluding that there were no concerns about her Fitness to Practice as a nurse.
Anaar Sajoo
Director - Associated health care professionals
Anaar comes from an allied healthcare setting and is a Genetic Counsellor. She joined NMCWatch when she was unable to find similar organisations involved with her own regulator.
Simon Holborn
Director - FtP and HR lead
Simon has a unique skill set having worked as a police officer, a nurse and a lawyer. He has been with NMCWatch from the beginning, supporting Cathryn with her vision and helping mould the group to where it is today. He is calm in a crisis but also honest about potential outcomes, he will not tell you what you want to hear but what you need to hear. Simon recently completed his Mental Health First Aid qualification with MIND.
Our secretaries are – Pat and Paula. Read about what they do.
Additional members who attend committee meetings approximately 3 times a year to feedback on their lead roles:
- Stephanie Poole – Neurodiversity lead – Steph is an Advanced Clinical Practitioner and an Autistic advocate who raises neurodiversity awareness in the workplace. Steph supports our neurodiverse NMCWatch members.
- Kamila Hering – LGBTQ Lead – Kamila is an experienced nurse who as a relatively new member of NMCWatch has observed the need for this role among members
- Rosey Megg – Freedom to Speak Up Guardian – Rosey’s social work background means she can add experience to the group, both from her own regulator, as well as the joint learnings from the members we have from other regulators.
- Kenny Brady – Safeguarding lead – Kenny is a mental health nurse and is experienced in working with those going through drug and alcohol dependency.
Who we are
Our Admin team
The Admin team run our main support group on Facebook. It is a private group whose members have joined if they are registrants going through, or have been through Fitness to Practice investigations with the NMC.
Find out more about us
If you would like to know more then send us a message via our contact page.