Family doctor suspended after faking appointments to do the school run

A family doctor who faked medical appointments at work to do the afternoon school run has been banned from treating patients for five months.

Dr Helen Eisenhauer, 43, feared that last-minute consultations booked in by colleagues would leave her unable to collect her two children from after-school club by 6pm.

To finish at her normal finishing time of 4.45pm, she made up two face-to-face appointments relating to patients she had telephone consultations with earlier that day, a tribunal heard.

She was caught out after a partner at the Stenhouse Medical center in Arnold, near Nottingham, noticed ‘anomalies’ in her booking arrangements and brought her in for a meeting.

Initially, Dr Eisenhauer, who earns an estimated £60,000 a year, denied any wrongdoing.

However, inquiries showed she had not only blocked her diary in the late afternoon, but she then falsified entries in it to suggest she did have the face-to-face consultations.

After referring herself to the General Medical Council (GMC), she subsequently admitted dishonesty, saying she was struggling to ‘juggle her work and parental responsibilities.’

Eisenhauer had joined the practice in 2018, but trouble began when she started suffering from sleep deprivation issues, the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service was told.

In an initial note to the GMC, she said: ‘I had blocked an appointment for a patient to be seen, and I then completed an entry into a patient’s record two days later, which was incorrect.

‘At the time, I thought this was the correct patient that I had seen. However, on further investigation, it has shown that I did not see this patient, and the information entered was incorrect.’

She also said she could not ‘reasonably explain’ what happened on that day, but did not feel that she had ‘knowingly entered false information.’

The note continued: ‘I agree that this was a significant event, and with no explanation, it questions my probity.

‘I have tried to be honest in my reflections on the day, but I cannot account for what happened and accept the seriousness of the situation.

‘I have accepted the final outcome from the investigation and hearing and wish to move forward in improving my note-taking, multitasking, and showing my probity and trustworthiness does not need to be questioned again.’

However, in the evidence at the tribunal, the doctor admitted lying on the booking schedule, saying she had been under ‘strain from sleep deprivation resulting from her parenting responsibilities.’

She said: ‘The incident occurred at a time of particular stress for me when I was having to balance the demands of my young family with busy professional commitments.

‘I fully accept, however,that this does not excuse my dishonesty. I do feel that in the intervening period, I have developed significantly such that I am better able now to balance my obligations at home and at work.

During the tribunal, she also described receiving a message from a partner on July 19, 2024, about the misconduct.

‘I recall feeling embarrassed and worried about what my colleagues would think of me having made the booking for Patient B and then not having seen her.

‘On this day, I was working as the duty doctor on a busy Friday. I did not consider the impact which writing in the notes would have for a consultation which had not occurred.

‘I did not consider the consequences of writing this entry at the time. I recollect only my worry and embarrassment.

‘I deeply regret these events, including the generation of the patient appointments, the misleading communications to my colleagues and, in particular, my entry in Patient B’s notes.’

Under cross-examination, Dr Eisenhauer accepted there was nothing unusual about that particular working day and that hers had been a ‘predictable challenge that many professionals face.’

On that day, she had chosen to undertake additional locum session work, but had not made appropriate childcare arrangements.

For the GMC, Ms Katie Jones said: ‘Dr Eisenhauer engaged in acts of dishonesty which demonstrated a reckless disregard for patient safety.

‘She undermined a system designed to protect the public and undermined collaborative working as she repeatedly lied to colleagues.’

Ranald Davidson said: ‘She had not been sleeping well, and if she did not pick up her children on time, on the date of the index events, she may have lost her childcare provision.

‘But she has demonstrated insight and remediation and no clinical concerns have been raised in this case.

‘Dr Eisenhauer’s conduct will not be repeated as she now has better organisation of her working life and childcare.’

After admitting the misconduct charges, Dr Eisenhauer was suspended from practice for five months.

Tribunal chairman Mr Neil Dalton said: ‘Dr Eisenhauer displayed a reckless disregard both for patient safety and for professional standards.

‘By such actions, she undermined collaborative working, betraying the trust her colleagues needed to be able to place in her probity, as they worked side-by-side with her on a daily basis.’

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