NHS England urged to adopt independent external second opinions in staff dismissals, dubbed 'Amin's rule'
NHS England is being urged to introduce an independent external second opinion process in staff dismissal cases, an approach referred to as 'Amin's rule' by Narinder Kapur. The rule is named after Amin Abdullah, who tragically took his own life in 2016 after being unfairly dismissed. Abdullah had been suspended from Charing Cross hospital amidst a petition supporting a colleague and a critical letter regarding a patient.
Narinder Kapur, a whistleblower who was sacked by Addenbrooke’s hospital in 2010 for raising concerns, secured an employment tribunal ruling of unfair dismissal but incurred approximately £300,000 in costs. Kapur has engaged in discussions with NHS England's chief executive, Jim Mackey, advocating for an external second opinion to be sought in dismissal decisions to prevent similar situations.
Proposals include expanding the framework for maintaining high professional standards to all healthcare professionals and splitting the Care Quality Commission (CQC) into two bodies—one focusing on patient issues and another on staff scrutiny of trusts and private providers. Kapur also calls for reduced use of the 'some other substantial reason' (SOSR) mechanism for dismissals; between April 2010 and September 2018, 10,604 NHS staff were dismissed under SOSR.
NHS England has stated it is collaborating with the Department of Health and Social Care to protect whistleblowers and encourages concerns to be raised through the organisation's Freedom to Speak Up guardian.
