Hyponatraemia probe doctors still being paid rewards for excellence
TWO doctors being investigated by the General Medical Council (GMC) are being paid significant financial rewards for medical excellence.
Dr Robert Taylor and Dr Heather Steen were two of a number of medical professionals criticised in the Hyponatraemia Report earlier this year.
They were both involved in the care of Claire Roberts, who was nine when she died at the Royal Belfast Hospital for Sick Children in 1996.
Dr Taylor was also the anaesthetist in charge during a kidney transplant on four-year-old Adam Strain, who died from hyponatraemia following surgery in 1995.
Complaints about doctors normally have to be made to the regulatory body within five years of any alleged incident. However, the GMC has said it is in the public interest to waive that in this case.
It is understood the GMC is now deciding whether the two doctors should face fitness to practise hearings.
According to the GMC website, both doctors are registered with a licence to practise and there are no restrictions currently placed on either of the medics.
Alan Roberts, Claire’s father, has welcomed the development — coming almost a year after the Hypoanatraemia Inquiry found there was a cover up following his daughter’s tragic death.
“Of course we are pleased about this but we would hope that the GMC expedites this investigation,” he said.
The Hyponatraemia Inquiry examined the deaths of five children in hospitals in Northern Ireland. Hyponatraemia occurs when there is a shortage of sodium in the bloodstream and can be caused as a result of receiving excess fluid. The independent probe found the deaths of four
of the children were preventable.
Dr Taylor and Dr Steen both continue to receive clinical excellence awards (CEAs), a payment made to doctors for outstanding contribution to the health service.
In May, the Belfast Telegraph revealed Dr Taylor, a paediatric anaesthetist, is paid a £31,959 distinction and meritorious service award each year, in addition to his NHS salary. In total, he has received almost £550,000 through the CEA scheme since 2001.
Meanwhile, paediatrician Dr Heather Steen has been getting an annual payment of £8,871 under the CEA programme since
2008, according to the Department of Health.
It is believed the payments to both doctors will only be reviewed by health officials if charges are brought and found to be proved by a GMC fitness to practise panel.
The Hyponatraemia Inquiry, which published its findings in January, came to damning conclusions about the care delivered to the five children in the run-up to their deaths.
The chair of the inquiry, John O’Hara QC, said in his report that he was “persuaded that a ‘cover up’ was attempted by Dr Steen” following Claire’s death.
He said her actions after Claire died were “very hard to explain on any other basis than that Dr Steen set out to conceal what she knew about the likely cause of Claire’s death”.
Mr O’Hara also said Dr Steen “failed” in her duty by not reporting Claire’s death to the coroner.
He said Dr Taylor “failed in his duty to notify the coroner” after Claire’s death, given his involvement in the care of Adam.
Mr O’Hara was also critical of Dr Taylor’s management of Adam’s fluids before and during surgery, which he said “defied understanding”.
In his report, he said that Dr Taylor “made fatal errors in his treatment of Adam”.
He added: “In his oral evidence, Dr Taylor accepted he could not understand it either, nor could he explain or justify what he did or how he subsequently defended it. I heard a lot of evidence from Dr Taylor but do not believe I was told the full story. Dr Taylor offered no insight into why he did what he did during Adam’s transplant… despite, or perhaps because, he provided so much evidence, Dr Taylor managed to keep his own thought processes obscure.
“Even though he now accepts what he did, he makes no attempt to explain it.”