Saturday 6 March 2010

NMC leaves public at 'serious risk of harm'

The Council for Healthcare Regulatory Excellence, a body that oversees the performance of the NMC and nine other healthcare profession regulators, has found that the NMC is seriously letting down patients with its shabby and low quality regulation. The Council's audit revealed several glaring problems with the NMC's processes:

“very poor file and case management, with poor control of delegated decision making and poor practices in gathering and analysing information"

The Nursing Times covers the story here. This fits with what I heard of the NMC and the fact that it comes out of this as by far the worst of all the health regulators is not a surprise.

The NMC has supervised and condoned the empowerment of nurses in doing whatever they see as within their 'zones of competence'. If the GMC did the same all hell would break loose, the NMC seems to think that training and qualifications don't matter, that nurses can just be let loose to do as they see fit, then when the sh*t hits the fan they just brush it all under the carpet. Interestingly for all the rather ignorantly pro-quackery commentators the GMC seems to be doing a lot more right than the NMC, they wouldn't tell you that though. I'm not fan of the GMC but at least they are fairly thorough in investigating claims, the same can certainly not be said for the NMC:

"This includes the fact that some cases have been closed “without sufficient information to assure the NMC that the registrant is not a risk to patients”. "

9 comments:

Nurse Anne said...

The NMC just gets worse and worse

Anonymous said...

Worse is an under statement.. The nurses involved in the Gosport War Memorial Hospital have been allowed to continue to work knowing the allegations against them. The PHT have taken no action and they continue to state that it is in the hands of the NMC. The Police handed files to the NMC and 10 years on we are still waiting to see these nurse at a hearing and for them to justify the drugs that they administered to the elderly patients there. The NMC ignore letters from the families, but the fat will hit the fan soon... disband them!
GWMH action group

Dr No said...

Ferret - "I'm not fan of the GMC but at least they are fairly thorough in investigating claims" - so were the Spanish Inquisition - but that didn't make them right. The GMC has repeatedly shown it couldn't investigate a cornflake packet, even if its life depended on it.

Doctor Bloggs said...

Shame on you if you believe that the GMC has an ounce of integrity or common sense. None of your colleagues who have experienced its procedures would agree with you. Your turn will come and sometimes people have to learn the hard way

Garth Marenghi said...

I don't have much faith in the GMC, I have made this clear in the past.

However the NMC's incompetence must be pretty bad if they are far far worse than the GMC!

This is all I'm saying, it's hardly a compliment to the GMC.

It's like saying Ian Huntley wasn't quite as bad as Harold Shipman and then being accused of being an Ian Huntley fan.

Dr Helen Bright, Doctors4Justice said...

My experience has been bad and over the period of the last ten years when I got mobbed by no less than eight organisations.
I did not find that investigation or case management at GMC was good in mycase nor in many others. Ther refuse to obtain patient notes for years, have no idea of whistleblowing and its consequences and only too readily become part of the mobbing crowd.
There is no real responsiblity of Expert Witnesses who lie on oath to help their friends without declaring conflict of interests.
GMC is white men's institution as well and we do not wish and cannot live with such prejudices.
Many are forced down the mental health Gulag with female doctors twice as often.

Anonymous said...

The GMC fails because:

(1) there is no separation of the powers of investigation and adjudication

(2) their tribunals fail every test of "impartiality"

(3) their tribunals apply the civil standard of proof combined with the test of insight at first instance to matters of professional judgement where an individual doctor may be subject to mendacity by managers, colleagues or patients.

It is unfair, unjust and an abuse of power.

Garth Marenghi said...

Actually I have never been a GMC fan and have made this clear many many times.

If you read my piece and kept what was said in context then all I was saying was that the NMC seems to be even worse than the GMC.

The GMC is politically partisan, run by government cronies, etc. Obviously I am no fan of their hounding and victimisation of certain individuals.

What the GMC does do though is investigate things, yes I know it often does this very badly but I wasn't commenting on the quality of these investigations or the way in which they investigate stupid trivial complaints in a way that destroys the careers of doctors in the most unfair and unjust ways.

That's all.

http://ward87.blogspot.com/2010/03/reporting-gmc-for-human-rights.html

If stating that the NMC is even worse than the GMC is seen as praise for the GMC then I'm rather perplexed because this is not what was intended.

Some people need to get a grip on reality and keep things in perspective/context, rather than flying off the handle at the drop of a hat over the most minor of comments.

Some of the personal insults that have been thrown do not even deserve comment, those who emailed them know who they are and should apologise.

Garth Marenghi said...

Just a couple of extra comments:

Dr No: "So were the Spanish Inquisition - but that didn't make them right."

I never said it did and never have. Why read into my one comment and twist it in this way?

Doc Bloggs "Shame on you if you believe that the GMC has an ounce of integrity or common sense. "

Have I said this, I will correct myself if I have, but I quite clearly have not.