I read with interest the GP trainer’s dilemma in the last issue (‘A borderline trainee’). It is to be hoped all the experts were not writing from a purely hypothetical perspective – none mentioned personal experience or published data as to what happens when a trainer raises concerns about a trainee.
Workplace assessment involves cases chosen by the registrar and there is no mechanism to report to the deanery other cases that have raised concern. To do so would be a failure to follow protocol.
Unless the registrar chooses to highlight a case where a mistake was made, there is no appropriate legitimate means by which the trainer is able to do so. Verbal discussions with directors do not constitute valid evidence.
To question the competence of the registrar is to question the people who made the appointment, the assessments they used, the RCGP-devised programme and the high-level ethical principles upon which it is based, as laid down by the GMC.
Essentially you are going to war with your profession. Raising concerns could ensure your first trainee is your last.
From Dr Tom Robinson, Sully, Glamorgan
