GMC takes action to 'protect' hospital's trainees

The doctors' regulator has put conditions on two departments at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital

The independent doctors' regulator has said it is "taking action" because of concerns over a hospital's supervision of doctors in training, as well as "racist and misogynistic behaviours".

The General Medical Council (GMC) has placed conditions on the medicine and surgery departments at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH).

The GMC upholds standards of postgraduate medical training and said if conditions are not met "trainees can be removed from the site".

The NNUH's chief executive, Prof Lesley Dwyer, said the hospital was “very sorry” to anyone who had experienced inappropriate behaviour and was taking the GMC's action "very seriously".

The GMC said it had imposed the conditions - including that all rotas have enough staff who are suitable qualified - to ensure patient safety and the wellbeing of trainees.

Prof Colin Melville, the GMC's medical director and director for education and standards, said it had been working with the hospital trust for two years, but the concerns now needed to be "addressed as a priority".

He said: "Doctors in training in these departments continue to report a range of concerns, including racist and misogynistic behaviours.

"There are also concerns around the clinical supervision of doctors in training, handover processes and access to educational opportunities.

"Our standards require training pathways to be fair for everyone to ensure effective training, trainee wellbeing and patient safety are maintained - but these are not currently being met.

"Our priority is to make sure doctors are receiving a high standard of training in an environment that is inclusive, supportive, and fair for everyone."

The GMC said the region's NHS and the hospital trust would be reporting to them on the progress made on each condition.

It added it would be also be speaking with doctors in training.

The conditions were put in place on the medicine and surgery departments on 18 November.

These include:

• The departments' rotas have enough suitably qualified staff so doctors in training have appropriate clinical supervision

• The feedback of trainees is responded to

• There are processes to ensure trainees are not subjected to "racist and misogynistic behaviours"

Prof Lesley Dwyer joined the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust as chief executive after the CQC inspections

In a statement, Prof Dwyer said: “There is no place for racist, misogynistic or discriminatory behaviour of any kind in our organisation and we are committed to stamping it out.

“We have encouraged staff to report inappropriate behaviours so that we can take action and we are building on this.

“We take very seriously the conditions placed on us by the GMC and all our senior leaders are resolved to make this a great place to work, train and develop.”

Hospital medical director Dr Bernard Brett said £2m had been spent on recruiting junior – now known as resident – doctors to help reduce workloads.

He also said discrimination, bullying or harassment would not be tolerated.

He added: “We recognise that for many of our resident doctors, the experience they have had with us is far from optimal, whilst we also have many pockets of excellence."

He added: “We need to ensure there is reliable high-quality training across all our specialties.”

In August, health watchdog the Care Quality Commission (CQC) rated the hospital as "requires improvement".

It raised concerns over safety and quality in surgery, outpatients and diagnostic imaging services.

The delayed report followed a series of unannounced inspections last autumn.

NNUH said at the time it had "come a long way" since then and had a new leadership team in place.

The hospital has about 1,200 beds in total and cares for people from across Norfolk and north Suffolk.