Minority doctors face referral ‘bias’

by NADEEM BADSHAH

CONCERNS THAT BME MEDICS ARE NOT BEING TREATED FAIRLY BY WATCHDOG

MEDICAL chiefs have been urged to stop “doing studies” on why ethnic mi­nority doctors are more likely to appear before disciplinary tribunals than white colleagues, and take action instead.

The British International Doctors As­sociation (BIDA) said enough research has been done into the issue and it was now time to act.

The General Medical Council (GMC) has admitted there is a persistent “over­representation” of complaints against ethnic minority medics. Between 2010 and 2016, the watchdog received a complaint against 8.8 per cent of white doctors, compared to 10.2 against those from a BME background.

BIDA chairman Dr Chandra Kanne­ganti, who has worked for the NHS since 2002, told Eastern Eye: “The GMC has done lots of research on why BME doc­tors are disproportionately referred.

“The problem is they have taken no action. They have done studies, but what are they doing about it?”

“We need to find out which hospitals are referring more BME doctors and if there is a subconscious bias from medical directors,” he added.

“I was told [by colleagues] when I came here that you have more chance of being referred, you are at the bottom of the lad­der, be cautious and careful. Even BME doctors born here have a higher chance of being disciplined. It is off-putting. They become over cautious.”

The treatment of ethnic minority staff was highlighted when Dr Bawa-Garba was struck off in January over the death of six-year-old Jack Adcock.

She was convicted of manslaughter on the grounds of gross negligence, but this was quashed by the court of appeal.

The GMC then took its own Fitness to Practice committee to court after it sus­pended her rather than withdrawing her licence permanently.

Dr Kanneganti added: “If it was a UK doctor, would they have done the same? I don’t think they would have.

“The support BME doctors get is mini­mal. Some leave because of an insecure feeling. It has a huge impact on them.”

The GMC receives roughly 10,000 com­plaints against UK doctors each year, with 200 of these referred to a tribunal. Of those in 2016, 70 doctors were struck off.

Dr Chaand Nagpaul, from the British Medical Association, told Eastern Eye: “Concerns surrounding how black and minor­ity ethnic doctors are differentially treat­ed in the NHS have been longstanding.

“We’re glad to see the GMC continue to acknowledge more needs to be done to reassure doctors their regulator will treat them fairly and transparently.”

Dr Punam Krishan, who works for the NHS in Glasgow, said the figures on BME staff being more likely to be punished is worrying. She said: “Around 30 per cent of our NHS workforce has a BME back­ground. We encourage the uptake of for­eign doctors to help fill gaps in our gross­ly understaffed NHS, yet many happily turn a blind eye when these doctors face racial abuse, bullying, scapegoating and indeed criminalisation of their work.

“Thankfully, I have never had to face a GMC investigation and, until now, I never doubted that the GMC could ever be any­thing other than fair.

“However, as an Asian doctor, I now quiver at the realisation that our professional governing body apparently deems BME doctors to be less able and more culpable compared with Caucasian doctors when judging clinical errors and complaints.

“If as a British-born Indian doctor I feel like this, it makes me sick to think how those who have left their native countries to come and work tirelessly for our NHS must feel.”

The GMC has launched appeals against its Fitness to Practice tribunal 23 times in the past two years, resulting in seven doc­tors being struck off the medical register, among them Dr Bawa-Garba. GMC chief executive Charlie Massey said it would “trace the path of BME doctors through education” to see if discrimination takes place. But he insisted the GMC’s own procedures were “fair” and unbiased”.

“We do know there is an overrepresen­tation of BME doctors that have been complained about. We want to know more about what is driving this, as well as whether there is an under-representation of other doctors. That is why we are inten­sifying our efforts to better understand this issue through more details research, analysis and advice,” Massey said.