At 18:05 07/02/2007, you wrote:
>Paul Bromley wrote:
> > It looks as though I amy be out of a job then following an
> > investigation by the GMC aas it is my present policy to issue a Med3
> > with the endorsement ' Telephone consultation by Nurse Practitioner'.
Like AKM I am not a lawyer.
If difficulties were to arise, I think it would be if someone "got it
wrong" AND the circumstances in which the cert was issued were not clear.
The only case I know anything about resulting in actual GMC action
was when a cert was given, in good faith, on the basis of a third
party consultation, but it turned out that the person certificated
was actually in jail (all be it v. briefly, which is how a cert would
have helped to hide it). That story was related to me in Med School
days on GP attachment.
The person who phones from their mobile in Spain or France, and who
gets a cert so that they can prolong their holiday for a few days
will be the one to test the rights and wrongs of phone consultation
based certificates.
Whatever the rights and wrongs of us being involved in "policing"
certification, or anything else, if what is entered on the
certificates is accurate it minimizes the chances of ending up at the GMC.
As the government doesn't contribute significantly to the costs of
sickness pay that GPs authorize, I'd also suspect that it would be
the attitude of employers that would determine whether a complaint was made.
FWIW my own practice (though not me) had a completely unfounded
complaint made to the GMC in respect of certification by a
headmistress of a state school (not in our direct area).
Julian
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