Dr Jenny Vaughan DAUK’s aLaw and Policy Officer speaks to the BMJ and explores why there is a disproportionate referral rate of ethnic minority doctors to fitness to practise processes.
Last week, Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden Chair of The Doctors’ Association UK interviewed Charlie Massey as part of a documentary on why doctors are leaving the NHS. The episode was presented by Sammy on BBC Radio 4.
For the first time Charlie Massey publicly stated that his decision to appeal the fitness to practice (MPTS) verdict, and pursue Dr Bawa-Garba in the High Court was wrong.
The GMC's chief executive has admitted the legal advice the regulator received during the Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba case was wrong and if the same case were to take place now he would not try to have a doctor barred from practice.
Charlie Massey said he 'completely accepts' the legal advice he was given to pursue the striking off of Dr Bawa-Garba - who was convicted of manslaughter by gross negligence following the death of a six-year-old patient - was 'not correct'.
Our Chair Dr Samantha Batt-Rawden shares her view in the BMJ after interviewing Charlie Massey (chief executive GMC) for a documentary Sammy presented on BBC Radio 4. In this interview Charlie Massy admits for the first time that his decision to take Dr Bawa-Garba to the Hight Court to have her struck off was incorrect.
The General Medical Council (GMC) has just published the 29 final recommendations of the long-awaited reviewinto how gross negligence manslaughter and culpable homicide are applied to medical practice. This was an independent review chaired by consultant cardiac surgeon, Leslie Hamilton, and undertaken after widespread criticism of the GMC’s handling of the case of Hadiza Bawa-Garba. The Doctor’s Association UK, among many other organisations, has been calling for a truly “Just Culture” to be adopted by the NHS for staff and patients alike as part of its Learn Not Blame campaign, and broadly welcomes the report.
A GP has been referred to the GMC for asking a Muslim women to lift her veil during a consultation. The Doctors’ Association UK, who have obtained a copy of the fitness to practise referral, are now calling on the GMC to issue urgent guidelines to help protect both doctors and patients.
Currently, there is plentiful guidance for doctors and NHS staff who wear religious garments, and when patients can ask a treating clinician to remove them. However, no such guidance exists for the opposite situation.
Dr Jenny Vaughan, DAUK’s Law and Policy officer writes for the BMJ about the case which has rocked medicine more than any other in recent times. Read her analysis as…
