Fitness to practise: shelter from the storm

  The stress of being under investigation by the GMC has caused doctors to feel isolated and excluded, and has even led some to take their own lives. The GMC is taking steps to make the process less traumatic and, with the help of the BMA, is providing more support for doctors. But is it enough? ‘I think of my life in terms of the time before and the time after. I don’t think me and my family will ever be over it.’ This doctor is talking about when he was referred to the GMC. More than a year since his case was closed, he says: ‘The episode is still very alive in my mind. It is present in everything in my house. I have two children, and when I look at them I think what could have happened if I had not been referred to the GMC. ‘I cannot stop myself from thinking that my whole family would have had a more natural and better progression.’ Dr Handen (not his real name), whose story about trying to put his life back together we told last year, is now working full time again and looking forward to starting a new salaried GP job in the spring that could lead to a partnership.   Documenting everything ‘I am in a good position. I would not like to go through anything like that again,’ he says. And he now documents everything — why he did something, why he didn’t do something, and whatever else he considered. ‘It may be unnecessary and a waste of time, but I know what can happen if someone wants to twist yo...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news