Saturday 19 March 2011

Oh, Well, That’s OK Then.

A nurse who was sacked after she clamped her hand over the mouth of a vulnerable patient and told him to “shut up” should not be barred from working, a hearing has ruled.
Really? Why not?
Pakistani-trained Shabana Tabassum, 38, was sacked by Kingston Primary Care Trust after the incident at Tolworth Hospital on July 11, 2008.

But a Nursing and Midwifery Council hearing ruled that while her actions amounted to misconduct, she should not be barred from working as a nurse again because she was struggling with "cultural and language differences" at the time.
Oh, right. Is it not the fault of her employers, then, for not checking that she was up to the job?
… the panel stopped short of barring her from working again after hearing she had little experience of working with vulnerable adults at the time as well as cultural differences from training and working in Pakistan.
*sigh*

17 comments:

Natalie said...

Since when is inexperience a valid excuse?
Isn't the law quite clear on duty of care?
If we claim to have a skill we are expected to perform to the standard expected of a reasonable other with the same skill.
And more to the point Is it considered culturally acceptable in Pakistan to physically abuse vulnerable people in your care?
Political correctness to a fault yet again.

Zaphod said...

We are heading for a system where anyone can apply for any job, interviews will not discriminate against the incompetent, the successful applicant will be picked at random.
If they can't do the job, they will be retained on full salary and another vacancy advertised. Repeat until the job gets done.

No more unemployment! How the economy will prosper!

Furor Teutonicus said...

Using the same logic, I can see a good argument for recruiting police from Moscow.

Richard said...

Every time I think you can't top the last one, and every time you manage it.

Speechless.

Mrs Erdleigh said...

How can this be? The NHS is the envy of the world surely. Thank God I have private health insurance.

Anonymous said...

Having been an observer in an NHS interview panel a few years back, they practically formed the golden arches to employ someone ethnic from the also-rans when the head-and-shoulders candidate was some poor white sap.

Luckily sense eventually prevailed but the both subconscious and overt pressure to display right-on credentials was instructive to behold.

Ranter said...

Zaphod, what you describe sums up the recruitment and internal selection processes for the police service, so it must exist across the public sector. Annual appraisals cannot be used to determine suitability - because of issues around fairness?????? In fact once completed, these appraisals are rendered worthless. Of course there are those for whom these processes mean nothing, such candidates are specially qualified by virtue of RACE and GENDER primarily, followed by SEXUAL ORIENTATION, then DISABILITY. RELIGION (unless it is the religion of peace) rarely comes into the picture. There used to be the half said in jest remark about a black disabled lesbian - which actually came true - last heard of being high up in some Northern force having moved from the Met!

Ahhh - diversity, if you don't live and breathe it you shouldn't be in the job - as a supernintendo was heard to utter loudly at a meeting. Box ticked!

Mjolinir said...

@Natalie - //Is it considered culturally acceptable in Pakistan to physically abuse vulnerable people in your care? //

I don't think so. Perhaps she was 'culturally confused' by the amount it happens over here?

jd said...

I appreciate hospital staff do face some genuinely vicious patients, but you can bet that if this patient had hit her in self-defence, the union would be running to the lawyers demanding compensation and citing it as an example of staff being victimised by aggressive patients.

dr cromarty said...

No surprise. You should see a Pakistani registrar or consultant treat and an Indian patient or vice versa. Often a masterclass in hauteur and ill-concealed xenophobia.

I've worked in other cultures. Had I done this I would have faced the full force of the law/a homicidal family.

No excuse. Repatriate her.

FIOFO.

Captain Haddock said...

Natalie said ...

"Since when is inexperience a valid excuse?
Isn't the law quite clear on duty of care" ?

Actually, it has nothing whatsoever to do with "duty of care" ..

This was quite clearly an Assault .. which, in English law is defined as being ..

"The intentional application of force to the person of another, or the threat of such force etc" ..

The Law makes no differentiation on the grounds of Race, Creed, Gender, Employment, Experience or anything else .. so why wasn't this woman arrested, charged & put before the Courts for them to decide ? ..

it is not for hospital authorities to play Judge & Jury ..

You can quarantee that if the patient had called her a "P**i bitch" .. the outcome would have been very different ..

Gordo said...

Another racially motivated hate crime by an 'enricher'. Another anti-white crime ignored by the CPS.

The time for debate is nearing an end, the establishment is our enemy. Draw the necessary conclusions yourselves.

Captain Haddock said...

Again, I have have Asian neighbours & they're very nice people ..

I've travelled far & wide, mainly courtesy of the "Grey Funnel Line" & generally get on with most people I meet ..

I've served in Warships alongside Black, Brown & Oriental people

But my piss just boils when "Race" is offered as an excuse, or in mitgation for breaking the law .. the same law to which I'm subjected ..

Fer Christ's sake .. get real .. Black, Brown, Oriental & White people are equally capable of doing good, as well as bad .. Let them all be judged according to the same rule of law ..

Mjolinir said...

@Cap/n H //I have have Asian neighbours & they're very nice people ..

Didn't you know that is a racist remark? Apparently it implies that there are (or might be) 'not very nice' Asian people somewhere else in the world.

JuliaM said...

"Since when is inexperience a valid excuse? "

That's a damned good question. I wonder why no-one on the Council asked it?

"We are heading for a system where anyone can apply for any job, interviews will not discriminate against the incompetent, the successful applicant will be picked at random. "

*shudder*

"How can this be? The NHS is the envy of the world surely."

At the moment, I think a lot of the world would be hard pushed to say that with a straight face!

"...but you can bet that if this patient had hit her in self-defence, the union would be running to the lawyers demanding compensation..."

Oh, count on it!

"Black, Brown, Oriental & White people are equally capable of doing good, as well as bad .. Let them all be judged according to the same rule of law .."

Sadly, the old 'equality' notions have gone by the board..

Captain Haddock said...

Mjolinir said...

"Didn't you know that is a racist remark? Apparently it implies that there are (or might be) 'not very nice' Asian people somewhere else in the world" ...

Whilst I recognise the point you're making, I would say that in the context of the thread, my comment is both factual & relevant ..

I am fortunate enough to have nice neighbours, who happen to be Asian .. Anyone who could possibly construe that as being remotely racist is sick in the head .. and says far more about them, than it does about me ..

Such people are cordially invited to chew my Starboard knacker ..

That there are "not very nice" Asian people around is beyond being implied ..

Witness the disrespectful bastards who burn Poppies, which remember those who laid down their lives for the freedoms which said "Poppy burners" seem to take for granted ..

Or the criminal gangs who groom & sexually abuse young white girls ..

Those are facts, which have been well documented ..and have even been commented on by the likes of Jack "The Weasel" Straw .. and as we all know, politicians never lie ..

That said, we're all aware that there are equally "not very nice" people of all races & skin hues around ..

Richard said...

Cap'n, I think you need to turn up your irony detector a little. :)