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

And? That's an 'Either you report yourself or we will' situation.

Personally, I wouldn't have given her the option.

After lying at her disciplinary hearing and she admitted being less than transparent when reporting herself to the GMC.

It stressed in the article that it's the fact she voluntarily chose to take on that extra shift as a locum GP that was an exacerbating factor. If she was a salaried GP and essentially squeezed in 2 people in her lunch break so she could finish 10 mins earlier that would be less serious. She chose to work that extra shift (and would have been paid very well to do it!) which involved working a certain amount of hours and being available until a certain time if needed. If she needed to be guaranteed to finish earlier she shouldn't have taken the shift.

Her last appt was at 4.45 - if she needs over an hour to get back then she shouldn't take on locum shifts that far away without back up childcare.

So not only did she expect the tasty locum rate, but to save herself some of the childcare costs too?

Add this to the less than candid approach she took with the GMC and it's hard not to wonder just how long she'd been doing this

well much as I think that she is wrong and got off massively lightly, the Hippocratic Oath has no valid power. Some places still ask graduating doctors to recite it but it is ceremonial only and means zero.

Its clear in the GMC report.

As pp point out, if she was a shelf stacker in Tesco she would have been sacked for defrauding the company and dishonesty and would have struggled for a reference.

This is a highly paid professional who elected to take on a extra shift at the premium locum rate without organising childcare. She then defrauded the practice and patients (and tax payer) by faking medical records so those patients (and who knows how many others) had false records.

Who the hell wants someone like that in a position of trust? I certainly wouldn’t want to see them at my GP practice.

@DeftWasp@Occasionalcyclist In practice you can put the patient in the appointment slot which puts a note on their record that they have an appointment that day but in theory she could not have opened the record from the appointment screen and made it look like a DNA. Equally bad as DNAs get recorded on the patient system and after 3 in some practices you get a letter.

I have booked a patient for a phone consultation at one time but phoned them at a later time because it was a better time for me and the patient... especially the 7am slot... meant I could get my computer wound up! But I would never falsify that I had seen someone.
Used to have a colleague (GP partner) who would cross off 3 appointments every Friday pm that he worked so he could get his kids from school. I wouldn't have minded if he'd made those appointments up again at an earlier or later slot but he didn't. He moved on fortunately.

The issue with this GP ( It's being discussed on medical forums) is that she falsified records. That is the big issue. It's just not right.

No sympathy I'm afraid. Falsifying medical records is an unforgiveable thing to do. She also appears to have been motivated simply by greed.

Maybe she wanted to see her children.

Then she shouldn't have signed up for the well paid extra shift.

Maybe patients wanted to see her. And have accurate medical records taken.

I've got kids, what exploitations can I carry out?

Don't care if it's a man, woman, or goldfish - anyone falsifying people's medical records to collect extra cash should be struck off

Maybe the bank robber wanted to rob a bank

This is gross misconduct if proven. When in a position of GP you have to act with the upmost integrity.

Well, she's got five months to spend with them full time, now.

I'm sure many parents want to see more of their children. However,most of those parents would get sacked if they were pretending to be at work/have done work when they had not.

It is still the guiding principles.

Gosh don’t people just love to see successful people fall.

I bet if she did work in Tesco there would be people falling over themselves to excuse her.

I think a lot of people don’t understand the level of pressure that some professionals are under. Salaries might be decent but the pressure that comes with some of these jobs is through the roof. I don’t know if that’s a factor in this case or not. But generally speaking I think a lot of people feel that highly paid professionals simply don’t deserve the money they earn.

There will be previous things to this that haven’t been included in the story but she did wrong and got caught out, I bet she isn’t at all shocked and was probably expecting a stringer punishment.

It's nothing to do with how much she earns. It's about expecting her not to volunteer to work shifts she can't do and not falsify patient records to make it look as if she's done work she hasn't.

Yeah I get that and I don’t disagree. But I do think people are positively gleeful about it.

I don't see any glee, but even if there is, it really doesn't matter. It isn't important. Falsifying medical records and undermining patients and the medical profession is far worse and the actual matter at hand. Who cares if some people don't feel sufficiently sad for her?

I’m a GP. Like lots of posters have said the issue is about probity. If you need to leave early you have to make arrangements for that. But no you cannot falsify medical records for any reason. I have been in all sorts of pressured issues of childcare, parents who are sick, needing to get away on time etc and would never consider doing this. So I think it is right that there is some sort of reflection and “punishment” if you want to call it that.

However in no way does this need reported in the national media like some sort of scandal. It should’ve been dealt with swiftly in house. Where I do have sympathy for her is that being an NHS GP is generally miserable. Everyone hates you, no one is satisfied. The impression is you are overpaid and underworked and you are just the gatekeeper for patients to see the “real doctors”. Everyday you see 40+ patients and have to be as on the ball for patient number 40 as the first patient of the day. It’s emotionally exhausting and add in childcare issues etc and I can understand why she made a poor decision even if it’s one I wouldn’t have made. I’m moving abroad to be a GP in a few months as the working conditions in the UK are so poor.

No I think people are shocked that a highly paid professional funded by the taxpayer, in a role of high status and privilege, afforded public trust, should betray that trust egregiously just to save a few bucks on childcare. How would you feel if your medical records were falsified to save a greedy professional the cost of an hour’s childcare?

All parents have the challenge of childcare, most face it with far less money, status and power that an experienced GP has available.

Sorry but once BMA and registration requirements are breached, there is no dealing with it in house. The fraud maybe could have been dealt with by the practice, but not falsifying clinical documents.