Angry doctors try to force out medical chief over hospital sepsis sacking
HOSPITAL doctors have demanded that the head of the General Medical Council should quit.
They are angry about the way Charlie Massey handled the case of a paediatrician who was struck off following the death of a sixyear-old boy in her care.
Dr Hadiza Bawa- Garba, who was convicted of gross negligence manslaughter over the death of Jack Adcock, won her bid to be reinstated to the medical register at the Court of Appeal earlier this month. Jack died from sepsis at leicester Royal Infirmary in 2011 after she failed to spot that he had the condition.
Many doctors have been angered by the actions of the GMC, which regulates them. They said important issues raised by the case – including dangerous levels of understaffing and failures of IT systems – had been ignored.
The Hospital Consultants and Specialists Association is now warning chief executive Mr Massey that the GMC may never regain the confidence of doctors under his leadership.
The HCSA criticised Mr Massey over what it described as his personal decision – without reference to the GMC council – to seek to override the findings of its own tribunal service in the case. A tribunal ruled Reinstated: Dr Bawa-Garba last year that Dr Bawa-Garba should remain on the medical register despite her conviction, but issued a one-year suspension. The GMC then appealed to the High Court, saying the suspension was ‘not sufficient’. Dr Bawa- Garba was struck off, before being reinstated two weeks ago.
Dr John West, of the HSCA, said: ‘The chief executive’s personal fingerprints are all over a case which has seen doctors’ confidence in the GMC collapse. It now seems that the GMC will only be able to draw a line under this disastrous episode via the departure of its main architect.’
A GMC spokesman said: ‘As an independent regulator responsible for protecting patient safety, we are frequently called upon to make difficult decisions.’