DZ has often written about appraisal and revalidation and how it affects medical practitioners, but of course our nursing and other colleagues also have to endure this process. And there is no evidence that the system works any better in catching naughty boys and girls for them than it does for us.
Take for example this story about a mental health nurse who was a major drugs dealer, while at the same time being employed by an NHS Trust. Being employed, by definition, means he was getting through appraisal and revalidation, and has only recently been struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, as a result of his criminal conviction. To get an idea of how big he was in his job on the side, this is how much Class A and B he had at the time of his arrest!
So why do you suppose he wasn't picked up by the appraisal system? I expect that when it came to the relevant section it must have slipped his mind to write. "I am heavily involved in supplying illicit drugs to large numbers of addicts" A simple accidental omission I'm sure. It could happen to any of us.
Don't know about doctors but I know nurses who are just changing the dates on their re-validation stuff and asking a friend for their PIN number and putting that through. No criminal intent but just pissed off that they have to do this cr*p every three years AND pay the NMC every year just to do their job.
ReplyDeleteJust a query, how would you write a reflective essay on "I am heavily involved in supplying illicit drugs to large numbers of addicts".
(laughing face emoji x 3) (Sorry, I can't type emojis into this on my computer.)