Where a practitioner's sustained pattern of unprofessional conduct demonstrates unfitness to remain a member of the profession, an undertaking not to practise will not ordinarily be accepted in lieu of striking off, even where the practitioner's conduct is partly explained by depressive illness. The depression itself, if rendering the practitioner presently unfit, reinforces rather than mitigates the case for removal. Acceptance of an undertaking imposes a lesser procedural hurdle for future readmission than striking off and readmission.
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