Behind the scenes of the GMC helpline

It has been just over ten years since the launch of the GMC’s confidential helpline, an anonymous route for doctors and health professionals to discuss or raise a safety concern. 

Independent Practitioner Today talked to those taking the calls about the impact it has had in giving clinicians and their colleagues a way to speak up, often in the most complex and sensitive scenarios.

Since its launch in December 2012, nearly 5,000 calls have been made to the GMC helpline.

Dayo Harland and Peter Landray have worked in the contact centre for five years, beginning as contact centre advisers. 

Both are now senior advisers and split their time between calls, emails and webchat, answering general inquiries as well as calls to the confidential helpline.

WHAT IS THE PURPOSE OF THE HELPLINE?

Dayo: It’s a confidential way for doctors to address things that may be going on in work or even just things they want to discuss or sound out. 

It’s also for other health professionals if they have a concern about a doctor and patient safety. If you decide to raise a concern, we’ll support you to do so.

We also signpost callers to other organisations that people may want to reach out to. 

The BMA has a lot of support for doctors on things like well-being and mental health. 

Sometimes the issues are wider than an individual case where a doctor’s fitness to practise is not the issue, or not the only issue, so we can advise on the next steps for that, as well as looking into the concern where we can.

HOW DOES A HELPLINE CALL DIFFER FROM YOUR AVERAGE CALL INTO THE CONTACT CENTRE?

Peter: Because of the anonymity, there’s much more pressure to gather information. We’re making sure that if a concern needs to be investigated, we have as much detail as possible. 

The calls can also be a lot longer, often more than an hour to cover everything. 

Because calls are often anonymous, once that call ends it could be the last time you speak to that person.

 

DO YOU RECEIVE CALLS FROM THE PRIVATE SECTOR AS WELL AS THE NHS?

Dayo: We do; from doctors themselves and also colleagues who want to discuss the conduct of those they work with.

Recently, I spoke to a caller with a concern around inaccurate medical notes and follow-up care.

Peter: Every concern raised is treated in the same way – from your initial phone call right through to the triage and investigation stages.

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF CALLERS WISHING TO REMAIN ANONYMOUS?

Peter: If we miss out one key piece of information, we’ve no way of going back to a caller to find out more or request things like further evidence.

Dayo: An option we let people know about is to make a temporary email account to keep up to date with how a concern progresses and be contactable while still remaining anonymous. 

It’s understandable that people might be daunted by it and how raising a concern might reflect on them, so we try to support that however we can. 

We get a lot of calls where someone is calling on behalf of a colleague they’re concerned about or just to see what the process might be for another person. 

The last call I took was a person concerned that their colleague was being taken advantage of professionally by a superior and often undermined. 

That’s a complicated situation for those involved, so we need to work around that sensitively.

HOW DO YOU HELP CALLERS TO FEEL MORE COMFORTABLE SPEAKING TO YOU?

Dayo: The main thing is to let people speak. I’m not there to make any decisions or judgements; I’m there to listen and take information down when there is a safety concern and let them know of support available to them. 

All information could be relevant, depending on how a concern progresses, so we’re exploring all avenues to build a picture to pass on to the investigating team. My view is that if it is important to the caller, it’s important to the GMC.

Peter: Someone calling might never have spoken to anyone about the issue before and just want to speak to somebody who understands why they’re concerned and help them do something about it.

WHAT KIND OF ISSUES OF CONCERNS DO YOU TYPICALLY HANDLE?

Peter: We do have less serious calls that come through – we recently received a call to the helpline from a patient who was not very happy that their doctor had retired, which I’m sure was flattering for the doctor in question, but not something the confidential helpline is designed for. 

But there are some very serious ones too. I took a call not that long ago which raised a concern involving the death of a patient. That’s when it really hits home how important these avenues are.

WHAT HAPPENS TO A CONCERN AFTER CONTACTING THE CONFIDENTIAL HELPLINE?

Dayo: All calls we receive go to the GMC’s Fitness to Practise investigations team, who then triage them and if a serious or repeated concern is found, it will be investigated further.

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO THOSE THINKING OF CONTACTING THE CONFIDENTIAL HELPLINE?

Peter: Recently on a call, a person told me ‘If I don’t do it now, I might not do it at all’, so there’s a sense of duty there for a lot of people, but we understand it’s also nerve-wracking.

I would just reassure anyone thinking of calling that they are going to be heard and going to be taken seriously. 

It’ll be a friendly voice that they come through to. We’re here to support you and trained to do so sensitively. For some people, it’s enough to have the conversation, but if there is an issue that needs to be acted upon, we’ll take it forward. 

If you are a doctor or health professional and would like to use the confidential helpline, you can find out more on this page of the GMC website: www.gmc-uk.org/concerns.