To feel very sorry for this doctor

[runningpram]

I feel the way this lady has been treated is appalling.
Obviously this wasn’t the right thing to do but she wasn’t leaving early and there was no patient detriment. Why were her managers not supporting her better?
Why on earth could not this have been sorted out within the practise without a formal disciplinary process? As a working mum I really feel for her. Could someone medical shed light on why this would have been blown up into such an issue?

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15422147/amp/GP-faked-medical-appointments-work-not-late-afternoon-school-run-suspended-practising-5-months.html

Fake appointments and fake notes? How would you like to be the patient whose record contained false information? No, what she did was unforgivable. Doctors are held to a very high standard of honesty and rightly so. Dishonesty is considered a character flaw that can't be remedied in the same way that say a mistake could. Eg if a dr prescribes the wrong amount of medicine they can put in place measures to stop it happening again eg further training or a particular method of calculating or a procedure of getting someone to double check. However if someone is dishonest there is nothing they can do to remediate that other than saying 'i won't lie again, promise'. She was lucky not to get struck off.

I used to work in the NHS and I have children, I am well aware of the issues regarding juggling childcare. I also had zero family help as both my parents are dead. That is no excuse for falsifying medical notes and putting patients at risk. How do you know 60k "doesn't pay for a nanny"? the people I know juggling school runs pay someone for a couple of hours to pick their kids up from school and they are on FAR less than 60k.

No, I do not want women like her working as doctors. Trust and ethics are vital in positions of responsibility like hers and in my view, she should have been struck off. The idea that any woman, no matter how unethical, greedy or deceptive in the role is better than none is deeply offensive- not only to women but also to the medical profession as a whole.

The article says 'She had chosen that day to undertake additional locum session work, but she had not made an appropriate fallback provision for childcare.'

Tribunal reports are published - you can read the entire sorry saga here https://www.mpts-uk.org/-/media/mpts-rod-files/dr-helen-eisenhauer--09-dec-25.pdf

There was a case a few years ago where a GP was suspended for a month. She had been told that she could get a laptop when one was availablle; however she told the IT department that she had been ‘promised’ a laptop. Because of this dishonesty (using the word ‘promise’) she was reported and suspended for a month until it was appealed. If that was the consequence for a GP desperate to acquire a laptop to do her job, then I think this GP got off very likely. I’m actually really angry at what she did. It brings the profession into disrepute and it’s dangerous for patients.

She’s wrong. I always feel sorry for mums with genuine childcare issues but this was on her. I would not take an overtime double pay shift on Saturday now for example at work because there won’t be childcare for my children. I have childcare for the days I work and that’s it.
She wasn’t under any pressure but chose to take on additional work that would have been paid more than her regular hours, she didn’t sort childcare and to cover up, decided to falsify records and told lies.
She deserves what she got and she should be happy she got off lightly. let’s call a spade a spade, this is not a childcare issue, it’s one to do with greed

Every cloud ☁️. Least she had 5 months to do the school club pick up when she was suspended…

I am a hospital consultant and my husband worked full-time when the kids were little, as did I. We had no family support and no nanny. We used nurseries. It was the most stressful time of our lives but we managed it when the kids were young. At no point did I lie to work or invent patient appts. I am so paranoid and meticulous about my notes and I am transparent at all times. I’m shocked that there are doctors out there behaving this way.

Yes, I noted this too ‘She had chosen that day to undertake additional locum session work, but she had not made an appropriate fallback provision for childcare.’

I think my sympathy is limited. It does seem unfair though that her photo is splashed all over the national press for what is a professional issue that must arise frequently. In this respect, she is being made an example of.

Sorry I had meant to quote you in my reply OP. The article says
'She had chosen that day to undertake additional locum session work, but she had not made an appropriate fallback provision for childcare.'
so yes, additional hours she herself choose to take on extra work, but then made herself unavailable for what she was being paid to facilitate ie seeing patients

Wikipedia has its own bias and is not a reliable source

People have posted this several times to the OP but she is conveniently ignoring it.

I agree this was about greed, not about childcare issues.

Yes they were extra hours. Honestly, how many times does it have to be said?

I do think it's serious, OP, and I do think it harms patients. Those slots were supposed to be used by real patients - if a full time doctor did that every week that would be ten patients missing out on an appointment slot and some of those patients would have really serious illnesses whose diagnosis and treatment would be delayed as a result.

In addition, if it was real patients whose medical history was being falsified that could also lead to serious harm down the line if their records suggest that they've already had treatment they didn't have, or haven't had treatment they shouldn't have, or contain false history that means the doctor subsequently treating them doesn't take the right factors into account when deciding on a plan.

This level of dishonesty would normally get someone struck off so I think the GMC must have had some sympathy for her as well as as some confidence that she wouldn't do it again.

This

Even if it was an emergency situation, you are transparent about why you need to leave work. You do not falsify records, ever.

Just picked up on the extra locum hours point - if that's right it makes it more serious again; I'd have more sympathy for a doctor whose employer wasn't allowing her to leave when her core hours had ended than one who took on extra hours not intending to offer them to patients.

I know right? I am beginning to think the OP is trolling.

OP- yes they were EXTRA hours she did not have to do, she CHOSE to do them for extra cash knowing she had no childcare. So yes, they were OPTIONAL and she was not forced to do them. She also stated she felt under no pressure.

So if somebody you love had some worrying symptoms, tried to make an appointment and was turned away because there wasn't a free one - and then didn't try again (quite common with elderly patients and those who are in very restrictive jobs where appointments must be made after work), going on to then become seriously ill or even die as a result - you'd be fine with the reason being that the GP had faked consultations and medical information so she could be paid until the end of the day and pick her kids up from school instead of working? Or if they had obvious visible symptoms that a trained medical professional would have seen immediately - but because there's a record that they were seen in person, it's believed that a) the patient was clearly fine or b) the patient clearly doesn't have full competency/has lost touch with reality/gets funny ideas or a bit confused at times?

She did finish work early. She did get paid for hours she didn't do - because she wasn't actually fully working. She may have been present in the building until her designated finish time, but she was not doing her job - to see patients, real patients, in person and to keep accurate records of those people's appointments and medical details - until her finish time.

I saw a similar article this week about a female paramedic who said a relative was ill to get time off. I wonder what the agenda is that we’ve had 2 similar scenarios in a short time. Seems an over the top reaction to me.

The details of this case matter.

Agreeing to undertake work, and get paid well for doing so, knowing she had no intention of utilising 2 slots is shocking and I can understand why the GMC are taking this so seriously.

She could have even lied at any point during the day "sorry, my childcare has fallen through, please don't book the last two slots", but she chose instead to falsify patient records. It's mind boggling. Im presuming chose the latter option in order to get paid. It's disgusting.

How do you know there was no patient detriment? It’s hard enough to get drs appts as it is without being unable to because someone decides to falsify their appt slots as being full when they aren’t

It was a one off she was clearly desperate and made a mistake.

Absolutely.
Disgraceful fraudulent behaviour, and insulting to her colleagues.
She’ll never be trusted again.

Lol - sorry forgot I posted that twice. Not trolling, I assure you!