Paul Turner qualified as a mental health nurse in 1987 and went on to specialise in the treatment of people with alcohol problems. After leaving the NHS in 2003 to focus on a non-health-related business, Paul did a Return to Practice Course in 2014 in order to get back to treating people for Alcohol Use Disorder (AUD) privately. In large parts of the UK, people find it very difficult to find suitable and effective help for this disorder and over 8000 people a year die from it. Few resources are made available, leaving a gap which Paul aims to fill.

In 2016, an NHS nurse discovered that Paul and his nurse prescriber colleague had been treating a patient with an alcohol home detox and decided that they shouldn't have been doing this. She referred them both to the NMC, stating that they were 'working outside their remit.' She made no effort to contact either of them and, even now, Paul has never had a conversation with the nurse. Her referral was full of evidence of her own shortcomings with regard to her knowledge of this area of practice. She even admitted to the NMC that she had never conducted an alcohol detox, despite being employed as an alcohol specialist nurse.

The NMC regarded the allegations as serious and Paul and his colleague had to attend Interim Order Hearings where they both received a 'no interim order'. A year later, after very little had been done in terms of an investigation, they were both given a 'no case to answer' verdict. Along the way were some strange events, including Paul being asked by the NMC to find an alcohol expert who could advise them regarding his own case about the work he was doing.

Since the FtP process, Paul’s colleague has stopped working independently due to the trauma of what happened. Although Paul has built a working relationship with a private GP and also become qualified to prescribe himself, he still suffers from anxiety and stress.

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