The local branch of the British Medical Association is urging States members to support the local medical profession.
Guernsey spokesperson, Dr Mat Dorrian says to do that the States must enforce a 25-day suspension suggested for Deputy Gavin St Pier.
He warns that if Deputy St Pier isn’t punished for breaching the State’s members’ Code of Conduct there is a risk that the local medical profession could be destabilised.
Background
Deputy Gavin St Pier will find out this week if he will be suspended from the States for 25 days.
The proposed punishment is in response to him breaching the States’ Members Code of Conduct amid a long running dispute with Dr Sandie Bohin.
The dispute is believed to have been running for more than five years, starting when one of Deputy St Pier’s children was under Dr Bohin’s care.
It all came out in public when Deputy St Pier used parliamentary privilege to name Dr Bohin during a States debate in April 2022, as he attempted to get other politicians to support a motion to debate an annual document detailing the regulation of doctors, known as the Responsible Officer report, based on personally held concerns with the safeguarding of children.
During that States meeting he cited a personal example in which a complaint his family had filed against the Medical Specialist Group had “triggered a bizarre and Kafkaesque safeguarding investigation, which our GP described at the time as the ‘weaponisation’ of the safeguarding service”.
He argued that “there have been egregious failings in our safeguarding culture and processes and their weaponisation has not only wasted precious and limited resources, it has also prevented children and families from being kept safe”.
Following the April 2022 debate, three Code of Conduct complaints were made against Deputy St Pier – by Dr Bohin, the Medical Specialist Group, and the British Medical Association.
Deputy St Pier was found guilty of breaching the States Members’ Code of Conduct but was cleared of abusing parliamentary privilege.
The debate this week is focused on a new Code of Conduct complaint.
The current complaint
The latest Code of Conduct complaint against Deputy St Pier was lodged in January this year, following a conversation he had with a national newspaper journalist which was connected to the past events involving his family and others.
Deputy St Pier said that he confirmed to the Guardian’s reporter how many complaints he was aware of that had been made against Dr Bohin. When the reporter contacted Dr Bohin, she made a Code of Conduct complaint against Deputy St Pier.
She said Deputy St Pier had breached five sections of the States’ Members’ Code of Conduct in that interview, and the Standards’ Commissioner agreed, suggesting a 30-day suspension as punishment.
The deputy appealed and partially won with the recommended suspension reduced to 25 days.
Deputy St Pier is expected to defend himself against the proposed 25-day suspension when the States debate it in their meeting starting on Wednesday, having already cautioned his colleagues against suspending him warning it would set a dangerous precedence.
Other families
Since Deputy St Pier went public in 2022 with his own family’s experiences, he has said multiple other families and medical professionals have contacted him to share their own concerns.
This has included concerns around Dr Bohin in particular and safeguarding processes in the island more widely, he has said.
Deputy St Pier has previously confirmed that he had been contacted by three other families prior to making his speech in April 2022.
He recently said that 23 families and practitioners have contacted him since then, bringing the total to 27.
He said the most recent family approached him with their concerns in September this year.
While none of the other families or practitioners have yet identified themselves publicly, some of them are known to Express and are in contact with our news desk.
Dr Bohin
Dr Sandie Bohin has been employed by the Medical Specialist Group in Guernsey since 2009.
Before that she had worked at University Hospitals Leicester where she was Head of Neonatology.
Dr Bohin is a Fellow of the Royal College of Paediatricians and a member of the Neonatal Society and the British Association of Perinatal Medicine. She is also employed as an expert witness in medico-legal work for the UK National Crime Agency and for HM Coroner in the UK.
She recently announced her retirement citing the impact of her dispute with Deputy St Pier and criticism of her involvement in the Lucy Letby murder trial.
“As an expert witness in a high-profile case such as Lucy Letby’s you expect scrutiny and challenge,” she said. “I am comfortable with the scrutiny that the role attracts. It is the unrelenting personal vilification and harassment from within the island that has caused me and my family stress and upset. This ultimately led to my decision to retire from my post earlier than I had planned.”
The BMA
Dr Dorrian said that the States risks destabilising the local medical profession if Deputy St Pier isn’t suspended.
He said the BMA has previously highlighted the risk to local medical recruitment and retention “consequent to Deputy St Pier’s personal and repeated attacks against Dr Sandie Bohin.
“Despite Dr Bohin being exonerated by robust formal governance investigations Deputy St Pier has been found to have abused his position as an elected member of the states of Guernsey to pursue a vendetta against Dr Bohin.”
The BMA has warned repeatedly of the risk to local services if Deputy St Pier’s actions went unchallenged. he said.
“In full knowledge of (this) Deputy St Pier continued to undermine Dr Bohin’s reputation by liaising with a journalist over confidential information,” Dr Dorrian said. “This has exacerbated all of these issues.
“The BMA was reassured to see that the independent inquiry into Deputy St Pier’s latest attack on Dr Bohin has recommended suspension from the States of Guernsey.
“In discussing this report the BMA would ask the States of Guernsey to consider the facts.
“Despite Deputy St Piers’ self-reported motivations his deliberatively vindictive actions have had the following consequences:
- The local medical profession is facing a reputational and potential recruitment crisis.
- The local children’s safeguarding services have been disrupted and there is no local named safe-guarding lead.
- Medical professionals in Guernsey have reported they are scared to speak out even when they know it is in patients’ best interests for fear of being attacked without the right of reply in Guernsey’s Government.
“Having been warned about these consequences Deputy St Pier has continued to attack one of Guernsey’s most respected clinicians.”
Dr Dorrian said Dr Bohin’s decision to take early retirement is “a direct consequence of the harassment and the independently judged unreasonable behaviour of an elected deputy”.
He said it “deprives Guernsey of an outstanding doctor prematurely”.
“The States of Guernsey has an opportunity to recognise this, and reassure the local medical profession and, importantly, the people of Guernsey that they will hold themselves to account for their conduct whilst in their elected roles.
“Not to do so will risk the sustainability of medical services on island.”
This week
The States are due to debate the recommended 25-day suspension this week.
The States meeting starts on Wednesday morning with deputies expected to start debating the proposed suspension later that day.
If the States votes in favour of Deputy St Pier being suspended he will not be allowed to do any States work at all for 25-days.
He would have to leave the States Chambers immediately and will not be allowed back until shortly before Christmas. That would mean he would be absent for the meeting scheduled to start on 17 December.
The next States meeting then starts on 28 January but Deputy St Pier will be allowed to continue his political work immediately once the 25-day suspension period ends.