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

I work for the nhs and wouldn’t dream of falsifying an appointment at say 4, so that I can leave by 5. How is that honest? If she was struggling then the thing to do was speak to management to worK out a plan. Not make up appointments, causing loss of patient time and a backlog to the already stretched nhs that we all pay for.

yes it matters. I had shingles recently. I nipped to the pharmacy with a photo of my back and the pharmacist quite reasonably said that because of my age someone needed to see the rash. The pharmacy doesn't have facilities for chaperonage and the pharmacist was male so he contacted my GP to get me a same day appointment and i got a GP to actually eyeball my rash and say yes shingles and prescribe medication. ....lets say the doctor was listed to do a phone back screening for "patient with rash", did the phone back and diagnosis without seeing the patient but documented that she had seen the rash? As a clinician, I can tell you that its REALLY important when making a clinical record that you describe clearly what you have observed or been told and also to document which it is. The other thing is that patient records need to be as accurate as the clinician can make them. Its a base principle of healthcare and law relating to healthcare.

No sympathy whatsoever. GP/Doctors are in a position of trust. She lied and abused that trust. The patients ahe claimed to have seen now have false entries on their medical record. I think she got off lightly with a five month suspension, notwithstanding that far less qualified people are exoected to have adequate childcare in place.

I feel sorry for her and as a healthcare professional with expertise in child development myself, feel so sorry for any kids left in a creche till 6pm. We are all zombie slaves to capitalism, so many of us stuck in jobs which are family unfriendly, yet expected to raise healthy, happy, well adjusted kids with attachments despite the fact that many of them only see their parents for an hour or two during the working week. I'm just utterly fed up with how women are expected to do and be it all. Of course she made mistakes, but a decent employer might look into how she could be supported to perform, rather than reporting her.. and taking a doctor (even one with performance issues) out of an incredibly understaffed system.

GP practices obtain their funding from NHS funding streams so it is public (tax) payers money which paid her salary.

Doctors complete the Hippocratic oath which has 4 guiding principles:
Do no harm
Act in the best interests of patients
Maintain confidentiality
Uphold professional integrity

All 4 have been broken by her actions, I wouldn't want to be treated by a GP who was happy to commit fraud and falsely complete patient records, however, we are all different and this clearly doesn't bother some people.

I have looked at the MPTS hearing decision. The way she behaved is mystifying. She is (although temporarily not given the 5 month suspension) a respected professional person and I simply cannot understand how she got herself into this position. The 'excuses' she made to the GMC initially are like those of a primary school child trying to cover up a wrong-doing, she must have know it would not be accepted.
I do think doctors have a difficult time with work-life balance, but surely if the situation was urgent (not sure it actually was though) she could have asked colleagues to cover.

So her employer should have covered it up?

I need to leave this thread as Im incredulous and the number of people blaming the system, the patriarchy, capitalism and so on.. anything except the selfish person who did it in the first place.

No one should have their name and face published in a national newspaper for a work issue. People fuck up and do stupid things but it doesn't warrant a national shaming.

It’s not an inappropriate comparison. Yes, racism is a big issue within the NHS/GMC. But it’s a comparison about sanctions nonetheless.

Are you a medic yourself? If not, stfu

She literally falsified patient records - after the fake appointments she was writing up notes about the appointment in the patient’s own medical records. Ie acting like the appointments were conducted and the patient present. It is written quite clearly in simple English in the article. Your standards are in the gutter if you think that is a silly mistake.

How do you know if a patient is mentally unwell unless you see them.
Someone with a viral infection could develop life threatening symptoms.
Do you need to ask if a GP who is prepared to defraud the NHS and falsify patient records is 'foolish enough!'

There was patient detriment in that she blocked out two appointments that should have been available for them. It’s bad enough trying to get a GP appointment as it is without GPs removing them so they aren’t late for the school run.

Do you now.

Of course there was patient detriment - either of the patients that she did not see in the slots where she was supposed to use for appointments could have terminal or urgent illnesses.

I empathise - but she should have had a plan B or C in place to ensure another person could collect her children for her - or talked to the practice manager to explain that she had a domestic issue that means she needed to leave promptly.

Exactly! If you are picking up an extra shift that you can't actually fulfil the hours for you use your words when agreeing to it and say do not book me any appointments after 4.30, I will be walking out the door at 5 pm

She reported herself to the GMC

FWIW, I agree with those who say it was extraordinary that the doctor discussed in this thread was not struck off.

But if she had harangued her IT department about being promised a laptop (when weasel words had in fact not quite promised this) then there is zero chance she would have been even reported to the GMC, let alone sanctioned. So in that sense it is not a useful comparison.

But I agree her still being on the register is quite surprising.

That's what I said. We don't know she'd have been permanently struck off if she hadn't been white. As I said, think she's got off lightly.

Absolutely unprofessional. I have zero sympathy. She should have been struck off imo. Totally untrustworthy.

I work in the NHS, it’s falsifying records, this could be the tip of the iceberg, she shouldn’t have taken the job if she couldn’t do the hours or should have spoken to her employer to try and find a solution. I feel there must be more to it than a couple of occasions.

It’s in the public interest she’s been ‘shamed’. Apart from everything else including potentially putting her patients heath at risk, she stole from the taxpayer. Try reading the article again to get a better understanding of this story because your trivialising this appalling case stinks.

No it's not in the public interest to shame people. We have a legal system to deal with law breaking. Different professions have different bodies to deal with misconduct. Shaming is not a part of that.

In healthcare you will get sanctioned/removed from the register if you falsify medical records as they are a legal record of what happened at your appt, they have to be accurate.

She was very lucky not to have been struck off for it.

I have known others do similar and be advised to resign.

I'm a doctor, but not a GP.
I have read the record of the GMC hearing.

In my opinion the biggest contribution here to the tribunal verdict was that it wasn't simply the fake bookings of 2 patients at the end of the day. When this was noticed, she then told the GP partner ( effectively her boss) that she had seen the patients and then went back to amend the records of one patient describing a consultation which included physical examination findings.

The GMC ( who I don't have much time for) also noted that while she referred herself to the GMC that she was not honest and transparent about what had actually happened to the GMC. It's drummed into us from medical school that lying and covering up is likely to result in more severe sanctions than the initial offence alone. The first action ( fake bookings) could have been explained away as a moment of madness ( the GMC noted that this was out of character), but then there was more dishonesty over a period of time.