We recently reported on the scandalous reinstatement of Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba in the High Court, following the success of the GMC to have her struck off. A rare example of patients’ interests being prioritised over the job security of incompetent doctors and/or nurses. It seems likely a head will roll over this case – not the female doctor’s, but that of Charlie Massey, the male Chief Executive of the GMC. A piece in today’s Times:
Doctors have told the General Medical Council’s chief executive that his position is untenable because of his handling of the case of a paediatrician struck off after a boy in her care died.
Hadiza Bawa-Garba, who was convicted of gross-negligence manslaughter over the death of Jack Adcock, six, won her case at the Court of Appeal to be reinstated to the medical register two weeks ago.
Doctors said that issues raised by the case, including dangerous understaffing and IT system failures, were ignored.
The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association (HCSA) has told Charlie Massey that the GMC may never regain the medical profession’s confidence under his leadership.
The HCSA has raised several concerns about Mr Massey’s conduct, including what it described as his personal decision to seek to override the findings of the GMC’s tribunal service.
Dr Bawa-Garba was found guilty in 2015 after Jack died from sepsis at Leicester Royal Infirmary in 2011.
A tribunal ruled last year that she should remain on the medical register but issued a one-year suspension.
The GMC appealed against the sanction in the High Court, saying it was not sufficient, and Dr Bawa-Garba was struck off in January, before being reinstated.
Dr John West, of the HCSA executive, said: “The chief executive’s fingerprints are all over a case which has seen confidence in the GMC collapse.”
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