When CIRI can support a healthcare organisation when a performance concern is raised 

Dr Bay is a consultant psychiatrist at Best HealthCare where he has worked for five years. He was reported by nursing staff to Dr Ash, his clinical director, for sexual misconduct towards female staff having made uninvited and inappropriate comments about their body shape and makeup. A nurse also noted that Dr Bay often failed to offer patients a chaperone during consultations.

Dr Laburnum, a fellow psychiatrist, informed Dr Ash that Dr Bay had made an inappropriate remark about her ethnicity, suggesting women from her country were more promiscuous and had higher sexually transmitted disease rates.

Dr Ash consulted the Medical Director who was also Dr Bay’s Responsible Officer, who revealed that Dr Bay’s revalidation had been deferred due to incomplete multi source feedback (MSF) as he had experienced difficulty in finding peers to participate.

Following a review of the Best HealthCare disciplinary policy and the Maintaining High Professional Standards guidance document, restrictions were placed on Dr Bay pending an independent investigation. Dr Ash was appointed as the case manager, and CIRI was commissioned to undertake the investigation. They interviewed key staff, reviewed the Chaperone policy, and the chaperone log for Dr Bay’s outpatient clinic and considered the allegations against the Dignity at Work policy.

CIRI found evidence that Dr Bay did not consistently offer chaperones to patients. He admitted to commenting on Dr Laburnum’s ethnicity (claiming it was factual) and acknowledged making personal remarks to a nurse to whom he was attracted.

On receipt of CIRI’s investigation report, Dr Ash concluded there was a case to answer, and a disciplinary panel was convened. The disciplinary panel found that Dr Bay had breached the organisation’s chaperone policy. He was required to update his training in this area and to undertake a retrospective and prospective audit to ensure that his learning was embedded in future practice.

Dr Bay was required to complete a professional boundaries course and to provide a written reflection on what he had learnt from it. He was required to refresh his Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) training and to reflect on the comments that he had made to Dr Laburnum.

He was required to complete his MSF within the next six weeks and to discuss his feedback with his appraiser.  As a result of him satisfactorily completing all of the actions required, his RO confirmed a positive revalidation recommendation to the GMC.