Physiotherapist struck off for Botox jabs

A leading physiotherapist and former director of a Stourbridge-based rehabilitation clinic was struck off for giving prescription-only Botox injections for more than a decade without authorisation.

Adrian Harding was struck off by the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) for administering the injections to treat patients with spasticity between 2008 and 2020 without a prescription or written consent.

He was described as an "extremely experienced" physiotherapist at NPP Neuro Group, which sees patients throughout the West Midlands.

The tribunal found Mr Harding "acted as he pleased" and administered injections despite knowing the drug needed a prescription that he was unable to provide.

A fellow physiotherapist, Dawn Hicklin, supplied Mr Harding with two boxes of injection vials while she was working at City Hospital for Sandwell and West Birmingham NHS Trust in January 2019, the panel heard.

The incident was reported and she was struck off.

Ms Hicklin lied to bosses, the panel said, claiming that the boxes were empty, and that she had not previously provided him with any drug vials.

Following this, in early 2020, Mr Harding told NPP Neuro Group that he would likely be called as a witness as part of an investigation into Ms Hicklin, and that there was "no cause for concern".

By October, he revealed inquiries would be extended to his practice.

Colleagues at NPP Euro Group subsequently audited his records as part of the investigation, and were left in "shock, horror and disbelief" by what they found, the tribunal heard.

The panel said he was "angry" at his employer for raising concerns and "demonstrated a complete lack of insight" of the potential damage he had caused.

Mr Harding was an "acknowledged specialist in his field and lectured on the subject", the HCPC panel was told, and it was likely he "authored the policies that he should have been following and that he had lectured students on such matters".

His record-keeping was described as "so poor it was serious enough to be classed as misconduct".

It was said that many essential records were either missing or incomplete.

Mr Harding was referred to the HCPC on 9 October 2020 by his employer, and self-referred a day later, before retiring by 12 October.

The tribunal found he had not shown any evidence of "reflection, remediation, insight or remorse" and he "simply walked away".

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