A newly qualified GP has been suspended after she was caught “speeding up” videos of her patient appointments because they exceeded the 12-minute time limit.
Dr Mahjabeen Asim, 45, used an app to manipulate films to make consultations appear quicker than they actually were, after at least one lasted 45 minutes longer.
Asim had been asked to record appointments as part of his GP training at the Victoria Road practice in Worthing, West Sussex.
But suspicions arose when an examiner who was reviewing the films noticed that on a wall there was an analogue clock that marked 12.34 pm but strangely ended at 11.50 am.
When questioned, Asim, who had previously failed her GP exam twice, said she was afraid of being graded lower and claimed she was under so much stress that she considered quitting.
She was subsequently reported to the General Medical Council.
Dr Mahjabeen Asim, 45, a recent GP graduate, has been suspended after being caught “speeding up” videos of her appointments with patients because they were too long. Pictured: the Victoria Road surgery in Worthing where she worked
At Manchester Medical Services Tribunal, Asim, from Streatham, south London, was found guilty of serious professional misconduct and banned from treating patients for two months.
According to NHS guidelines, the average GP consultation currently lasts less than ten minutes.
However, the Royal College of GPs has called for this to be extended to 15 minutes to give patients more time to discuss their health problems.
The hearing was told that Asim, who studied medicine in Pakistan, moved to the UK in 2010 and worked in A&E at West Middlesex University Hospital in Isleworth.
She began her GP training at Worthing Hospital in West Sussex in 2018 and was then seconded to the Victoria Road practice in Worthing.
As part of the program, she was asked to present 13 different recorded consultations with real patients covering a variety of areas including acute and chronic conditions, reproductive health, child well-being and mental health.
The criteria stated that consultations had to be recorded continuously and not edited, and that the camera must not be turned off. It also stated that appointments were limited to 12 minutes and that if a consultation exceeded that time period, Asim would not get points for anything that occurred after that.
Asim submitted his queries in March 2023, but problems began when the examiner approached a teacher overseeing the programme to raise concerns about the recording and timing of one of the videos.
It was discovered that at one of Dr Asim’s appointments, the time displayed on an analogue clock on the wall behind a patient did not match the time of the video consultation. The appointment started at 11:36:30 and ended at 11:50:30, but the analogue clock on the wall read 12:34.
As a result, Dr Asim’s 13 consultations were reviewed and four of them were suspected of being rushed. In a subsequent meeting with senior colleagues, she was said to be “shocked, surprised and unable to offer an explanation for the discrepancies”.
Later that afternoon, he spoke to his GP and admitted to speeding up the recording. In a statement, Asim said he used his mobile phone to record the videos and then used apps to compress the file sizes, at which point he discovered an option to speed them up.
In her testimony, Asim, who qualified as a GP in April 2024, apologised for her actions and said there was “no excuse or justification for her behaviour”. Admitting she had been dishonest, she added: “Things had been difficult at home but although I felt under extreme pressure, she had not taken any time off work or spoken to anyone about the pressures I was under.
‘I had failed the exam on two previous occasions and was worried that my next attempt would be my last attempt and I would not be able to get a further extension to complete my training.
Asim submitted his enquiries in March 2023, but problems began when the examiner approached a teacher overseeing the programme to raise concerns about the recording and timing of one of the videos (file image)
“I recorded all my queries over a two-month period, which felt like a continuous examination. I was concerned that her queries were not complex enough to meet the criteria and that there would be technological challenges in sending them, so I opted to use my mobile phone to record them.”
Asked about the process of uploading and expediting the consultation videos, Asim said he did not believe there was enough information within the 12-minute limit of the quotes to cover the mandatory criteria for passing the exam.
He added: “During the compression of the videos I realised that they could be sped up and then I panicked and picked random videos to speed up. I transferred the videos from my mobile phone to a computer and sped up one video to check if it worked. When I realised that the speed up had worked, I sped up other videos. I accept that I was wrong.”
Asim said he has since attended a series of courses, including Maintaining Professional Ethics, and created a “development plan that identifies the root causes of his actions and sets out measures to prevent them from happening again.”
Miss Jade Bucklow told the GMC of the videos: ‘They are a component of the requirement to become a GP and if Dr Asim had not been detected she would have been given a post she was not qualified for.
‘His actions in speeding up the recordings gave him an unfair advantage over other candidates, as he would have had more content evaluated
and a better chance of meeting the criteria for passing the exam. Dr Asim’s conduct was sophisticated, premeditated and developed over a period of time. It could not be described as a moment of panic as she logged onto a computer to speed up filming.
“The stress that Dr. Asim was experiencing was not unusual. Many of her colleagues also experienced periods of stress, but they did not resort to cheating.”
Asim’s solicitor, David Morris, said: “While she resorted to inappropriate methods to help her pass the exam, Dr Asim’s actions were carried out in a panicked atmosphere, with little thought or planning. There was no real risk to patient safety and, had Dr Asim been successful, this would have led to a competent but slow GP being admitted to the register.
“She had found it difficult to record the consultations and a combination of pressures had caused Dr Asim to act strangely. She almost immediately accepted her dishonesty, showed remorse and offered an apology.
MPTS chairwoman Ms Megan Larrinaga said: “Dr Asim’s actions were intended to undermine the system of examination and admission to the register of GPs. Her conduct was planned and continued over a number of days with the aim of assisting her to pass her professional examinations.
‘However, the court noted that Dr Asim was going through a difficult period in her family life. It also accepted that she was worried about passing the exam, having failed on two previous occasions, and that she had not told anyone in detail about her difficult circumstances.
“Dr Asim is now said to be more open with those around her, has friends she can trust and is actively managing her stress levels. It was clear to the Court that Dr Asim was a highly respected doctor and that those who gave evidence considered her conduct to be out of character for her.”