I reported Dr Andrew Iles (Oxford Priory Wellbeing Centre, Albion Clinic Northampton) to the GMC last year who is now being investigated for 8 counts of misconduct by the GMC for his treatment of me.
The case was assigned to senior investigator Steven Frankland. Over 3 months I received over 60 emails from him, none of which were investigation updates, which is the contact they should have with patients, but these were emails of his offers to be there for me, support me unconditionally, help me, care for me, and so on. He offered time and support freely and in a recorded phone call told me he wanted to ‘comfort’ me as needed through the investigation.
From the outset he stated he would only send informal correspondence rather than the formal letters usually sent to patients. On a day in January when I was feeling very low and vulnerable after reading a letter from Dr Iles to my GP last year which stated the following about me wanting a hug from an imprisoned paedophile when I was 9 years old: ''Lina remembers how she craved hugs, which she recognises led to her victimisation at the hands of paedophiles'', which I felt blamed me for sexual abuse I endured as a child.
Frankland waited until the day I was at a low point after reading this and sent a very formal email, unlike the 60 previous ones, copied in to his manager basically saying I was wasting his time (time which I'd never asked him for) and that he had been told to tell me his role was to be 'impartial' and not make any judgement on me or Dr Iles. It was a bit late for that as on a previous phone recording he had stated to me the following about Dr Iles: ''whatever the sort of expert's opinion and whatever your personal opinion is, the way you were treated isn't right and wasn't good for you'', which is his judgement on the doctor he is investigating. Also, how does 'impartial' tie in with wanting to 'comfort' one party.
I felt hurt that I was offered and given support through the investigation by Frankland himself then had it had all been taken away when he got caught out.
The day he told me he wanted to ‘comfort’ me, alarm bells raised and I asked my other half if this sounded like an appropriate word to use. On the same call Frankland stated that investigators are never ‘hands on’ with patients and this implied that I was the first that this 'support' had been extended to. When I spoke to the independent GMC witness support service about it they also had alarm bells – their support is offered to patients because they are independent of the GMC, whereas the investigator himself in my case had got heavily involved with me in giving support himself. The GMC's own website states they offer 'independent' support through the helpline and says nothing of investigators themselves supporting patients.
Given Frankland’s partiality clearly went against his job description my husband informed Frankland’s manager Alex Gorton who replied within a couple of hours saying it was ok and that Frankland still supported me. We then informed the complaints department. They pride themselves on how they handle complaints, replying in 5 days with a reference number etc, however, they totally ignored this serious complaint and didn't follow their own procedures at all – 3 weeks later, after my husband had tried calling several times they sent a few lines saying everything Frankland did was totally ok with them. The complaint was escalated by my husband and by a lady within the GMC who also questioned Frankland's use of the word 'comfort', we sent it in writing weeks ago and we're still I’m being ignored. Oh, but Frankland himself asserted again more recently to my husband on the phone that he still supports me – come on man – you’re either impartial or on my side – make up your mind and stop messing everyone about!
This is their complaints handling policy https://www.gmc-uk.org/about/get-involved/complaints-and-feedback-about-our-service/complaint-handling yet I can confirm NONE of this was followed or adhered to with my complaints! Given Frankland’s judgement on Dr Iles I would expect the GMC to take action on the investigation – if not they are not treating patients ethically at all as they seem to get people's hopes up by outright blaming the doctor.
Frankland remains on the case despite me asking them to put someone else on and I have had no apology for anything let alone any acknowledgement of being treated not the best. His emails are now world's apart from the nice caring over the top ones I received for 3 months though, although he still says he supports me! Clearly if he is now sending formal updates only then what he sent by way of those 60 chatty support emails was not right.
The GMC called me 'a vulnerable patient' when they launched the investigation and yet don't seem to care about how they tread all over said 'vulnerable' patients! They opened the case about Iles due to his treatment of me, including his discharging me behind my back and with no justifiable reason, and now I'm even being excluded from the investigation - Gorton said if I was unhappy with Frankland I didn't have to receive their updates rather than getting someone properly impartial to investigate and update the amount of updates I'm entitled to!
I can confirm that I will now be taking my complaint further as the GMC and their complaints department are totally ignoring me. These people can deal with it - my reason for blogging is to question the very unethical behaviour of Frankland & co.
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