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

To those saying don’t judge, she committed fraud and broke her professional code of conduct. That is something we should judge. Would you be so forgiving of a banker or lawyer?

We should perhaps ask of the NHS (because it's so vital to the good of the country) how they can assist working parents to deal with childcare issues.

Let's learn from this rather than bitch about someone who's done something stupid and wrong.

It doesn't excuse her lying, dishonesty and fraud.

No. But it does highlight that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. Or women who wouldn’t countenance committing fraud will not be able to access these types of shifts.

She’s falsified medical records. That’s a striking off offence. She’s lucky that she’s only been suspended as she should have had the book thrown at her.
General practice js very busy and very pressured. The last thing the other partners or salaried GPs - who will have had their work increased through this woman’s actions - is someone taking the piss like that. They will also have families and or other responsibilities. I don’t imagine they will be keen to take her back ans if they do then she will need to be monitored carefully - so yet more work for the overworked practice manager. I don’t understand how anyone could possibly support her.

I think it highlights the need for flexible working arrangements and a move from the expectation people will work overtime. She didn’t go about it the right way by how the fuck are we in a situation that a gp can’t pick up their dc from after school club (not school - she was paying for childcare). I work in the nhs and was able to flex my hours for this reason but gp practices are not nhs in the same sense. Feels like poor management practices were at play that she felt forced to do this.

She committed fraud. She made up appointments with patients which the GP practice would have charged the NHS for, falsified patient notes, and blocked appointment spaces other patients needed.

It is not about GP's having to be too squeaky clean, it was gross misconduct and she is lucky it is only a temporary suspension.

Maybe it's simply that the facts don't fit the desired narrative of "women as victims" mzpq?

I mean I agree and disagree. It’s a shame she didn’t have a flexible arrangement she should have left the practice if they were so unacommadating. Practises vary wildly in how they treat their staff. But also it means patients with urgent medical problems that could have been seen in the last 2 appointments weren’t being seen

Nope.

What? She said that she had felt no pressure to work extra hours and that her practice was very flexible and accommodating. Why did she volunteer to work extra hours is she couldn’t do them?

Well they can assist by warning people not to take on extra shifts that they don't have to take, and then commit serious fraud because they can't do the shifts they voluntarily took on.

That's a start I suppose, although it's a bit Captain Obvious to most adults.

Clear cut. Don’t take the extra work on (at a higher rate of income) if you don’t have childcare in place for that day. If this was her regular working hours she would have negotiated what time her clinic could run to and therefore ensured child pick up.

Falsifying records is never okay. Despite how small or insignificant she felt it was or how she felt she was justified it’s just not okay. Black and white.

Don’t take on the extra work or hire a childminder or nanny that can collect from after school club.

Women shouldn’t be prevented from taking unpaid overtime because they can’t guarantee that the shift will end when they are told it will end.

It doesn’t justify what the doctor did. But it’s still an issue.

Thought she could get away with scamming the system to earn more money without having to do the work, and possibly career progression within the practice?

Not the ethics you want in a GP where trust is paramount.

Can you imagine if it was an NHS dentist who did this?? I have a feeling there would be ZERO sympathy there!!

Same applies to men though.

The simple truth is no employer can guarantee anyone can get off work on the dot. Especially if its a public facing role.

For me it's the fact she had her face splashed in the DM with the nasty headlines.

These days every little thing someone does- they risk their face being splashed all over media so they can be publicly shamed.

Someone being splashed in the media main headline for a speeding fine doing 24 miles in a 20mph zone.

Musnt be much news about if this is the main headline.

She said she wasn't under any pressure to take those shifts.

She was a locum and agreed these shifts

She falsified the surgery and patient records

She committed fraud

You can change your vote by clicking on the other option

Where are you getting that I think it’s ‘ok’, or ‘fine’? Honestly, the inability of so many posters to get nuance, or to think in anything but black and white terms, is really depressing.

The article I read was that she should have finished in time but had to work overtime for paperwork. I tend to think there’s more than is reported. That said, some doctors think they’re invincible and are very arrogant.

This.

I used to be a social worker. I was often running over time, panicking about picking the DC up from childcare, etc. It NEVER occurred to me to put imaginary appointments in my diary whilst I snuck off to pick up my DC. As a social worker I have to sign up to ethical codes of conduct, as do Drs.

I'd be furious if my GP falsified my medical records. It's fraudulent and potentially extremely dangerous.

She should have factored in the possibility of needing to stay longer and not taken the shift in the first place. She was under no pressure to accept it : she said so.