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FYISSUE 17 i BEYOND EARTH MEDICAL ETHICS OF SPACE TRAVEL ALSO INSIDE RADIOLOGY SPEAKING UP AN MDDUS 08 A CAREER IN IMAGING 10 TACKLING UNSAFE ROTAS PUBLICATION 02 FYi • Welcome • News NEW CAPACITY AND CONSENT TOOL FROM GMC DOCTORS struggling with issues around consent and capacity can consult a new online tool launched by the General Medical Council. The interactive mental capacity decision support tool draws on the principles of the regulator’s guidance Consent: patients and doctors making decisions together and Treatment and care towards the end of life. It can be used across the UK and includes a case study at each stage of the decision-making process to show how the guidance applies to the Welcome to your FYi clinical situations doctors may face. WORKING long tiring shifts Manned missions to Mars are Access the tool on the GMC website: www.gmc-uk.org/Mental_ seems to be the accepted norm a real possibility in the coming Capacity_flowchart/ for trainee doctors, especially decades - but what are the MDDUS members can also watch video modules on consent and as the NHS contends with ethical considerations of sending download checklists on our website in the Risk Management increasingly limited resources. humans into space? Dr Allan Gaw eLearning centre. But what if you are so exhausted investigates on page 12. you fear you can no longer A recent GMC study gauging provide safe patient care? I the preparedness for practice of offer some words of advice medical graduates found more CONCERNS OVER HOSPITAL on when to speak up in my than half were against proposals article on page 10. to move full registration to the DISCHARGE PROCESS If you are struggling to cope point of graduation. Our article with work pressures, then help is on page 4 considers both sides MOST hospital inpatients “always” an improvement on the 57 per at hand. Our article on page 5 of the argument. have confidence and trust in cent in 2014. offers practical tips on managing If you like the idea of using doctors but only two-thirds feel But figures around post- stress and avoiding burnout as the latest technology to their family or home situation is treatment discharge planning part of an RMBF campaign. diagnose, treat and monitor a taken into account when planning were less encouraging, with 41 A new MDDUS-sponsored variety of illnesses, then their discharge. per cent of discharged patients book of poetry offers reflections radiology could be the specialty These are key findings from reporting not being told about on life as a junior doctor. Find out for you. Find out more in our the recently published NHS Adult medication side effects, and only more, including how to get your career article on page 8. Inpatient Survey 2015 involving 62 per cent feeling that hospital free copy, on page 7. Our case study on page 14 over 83,000 hospital inpatients. staff completely took their family What are your professional follows a seemingly simple case In the survey, 84 per cent (up or home situation into account obligations to help a stranger in of persistent dyspepsia that has from 81 per cent in 2014) reported when planning the discharge need of emergency medical a grave outcome. that they were “always” treated process. Only 56 per cent agreed care? MDDUS medical adviser Dr with respect and dignity in they had received enough support Greg Dollman advises on acting • Dr Naeem Nazem hospital and 71 per cent (up from from health and social care as a ‘Good Samaritan’ on page 6. Editor 69 per cent in 2014) said that professionals to help them when they had important manage their condition after questions for doctors or nurses leaving hospital. they “always” got answers that Commenting on the results, Dr they could understand. Andrew McCulloch, who developed A growing majority also said and coordinated the survey for the that they “always” had confidence CQC, said: “Patients need to leave and trust in doctors (82 per cent) hospital with clear information and nurses (79 per cent), and 60 and understanding about their per cent said that they were ongoing care and medicines. Too “definitely” involved as much as often this is not happening, and EDITOR: PRINT: they wanted to be in decisions improvement is needed to benefit Dr Naeem Nazem MBChB Printwell about their care and treatment – patients and the NHS alike.” BSc (Hons) MRCP LLB (Hons) www.printwell-ltd.co.uk ASSOCIATE EDITORS: CORRESPONDENCE: Joanne Curran FYi Editor Jim Killgore MDDUS Mackintosh House DESIGN: 120 Blythswood Street Connect Communications Glasgow G2 4EA www.connectmedia.cc t: 0845 270 2034 e: [email protected] w: www.mddus.com FYi is published by The Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland, Registered in Scotland No 5093 at Mackintosh House, 120 Blythswood Street, Glasgow G2 4EA. The MDDUS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MDDUS are discretionary as set out in the Articles of Association. The opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by the various authors in FYi are those of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland. www.mddus.com BULLYING MORE HUNDREDS OF COMMON AMONG NHS NEW FGM CASES BLACK AND MINORITY RECORDED EVERY ETHNIC STAFF MONTH BLACK and minority ethnic (BME) NHS staff in England MORE than 400 new cases of female genital are more likely to be bullied than their white colleagues, mutilation (FGM) are reported each month in new research has shown. England, with over half occurring in London. Higher percentages of BME staff said they experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from New figures revealed there were 1,242 staff, regardless of the type of Trust or geographical region in which they worked. newly recorded cases of FGM reported They were also more likely to face discrimination from management than white staff, and between January and March 2016, and a total less likely to agree that their trust provides equal opportunities for career progression of 2,223 attendances where FGM was or promotion. identified or a related procedure carried out. The findings were revealed in the first report on the NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard The Health and Social Care Information (WRES) from the NHS Equality and Diversity Council. Centre (HSCIC) report showed 81 NHS trusts The WRES, introduced in 2015, aims to prompt discussions about the reasons why BME and 12 GP practices had one or more staff often receive poorer treatment and to identify ways of tackling the problem. attendance for FGM during that period. Almost Of the 153 acute trusts who submitted data, 75 per cent showed a higher percentage of all information was submitted by trusts, BME staff being bullied by fellow workers compared to their white colleagues. In the trust with however, with GP practices accounting for just the greatest disparity, 42 per cent of BME staff said they had been bullied compared to 18 per one per cent of total attendances. cent of white employees. Most FGM was self-reported (75 per cent) Other findings reveal that in 86 per cent of acute trusts, a higher percentage of BME staff with London accounting for 52 per cent do not believe their organisation offers equal opportunities for career progression or promotion of new cases. compared to white staff. Similarly, 81 per cent of trusts reported a higher proportion of BME The vast majority of women and girls with a staff facing discrimination from a manager, team leader or colleague. In one trust 57 per cent of known country of birth were from an eastern, BME but only 12 per cent of white staff experienced this discrimination. northern or western African country, with NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens said the report provides “unvarnished Somalia accounting for a third of new cases. feedback” to every hospital trust across the country. Other countries with a large volume of cases “It confirms that while some employers have got it right, for many others these staff survey included Eritrea, Sudan and Nigeria. results are both deeply concerning and a clear call to action,” he said. “As this is the first year of Eleven new FGM cases involved women and the WRES, it provides a transparent baseline from which each employer will now be seeking girls who were born in the UK, and at least to improve.” seven procedures were carried out illegally in Read the full report at tinyurl.com/zoz59oh the UK. Twenty-nine affected girls were under 18, comprising two per cent of all new cases. The NHS has been required to collect data on FGM since April 2014. Doctors in England GMC REINFORCES STANDARDS and Wales also have a mandatory duty to report to the police FGM cases in girls under the age of 18. FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS Read the full report on the HSCIC website. MEDICAL students must understand the other users. importance of patient confidentiality and The guidance will come into effect in behaving appropriately on social media September and an e-book version will among other professional values set out in follow in 2017. new guidance from the GMC. An additional piece of guidance has been The GMC and the Medical Schools Council published by the GMC and MSC to help (MSC) have published Achieving good medical medical school and university staff to manage practice (tinyurl.com/zv24c3d) – a and support students whose professional document for medical students outlining the behaviour or health becomes a cause for standards and professional behaviour concern. Professional behaviour and fitness required before becoming a doctor to practise is aimed at supporting medical after graduation.

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