A private company running out of hours GP services for the NHS has lost a second contract in the aftermath of the case of a foreign doctor who accidentally killed a patient on his first UK shift as a locum.
Take Care Now was stripped of one contract amid safety concerns and another will not be renewed. It still provides emergency GP services for three other local NHS trusts.
The company is under investigation by NHS watchdog the Care Quality Commission over the death of 70-year-old David Gray. He was given a massive overdose of a painkiller by Daniel Ubani, a German doctor who admitted to being unfamiliar with the drug, tired and lacking concentration.
The commission’s interim report in October raised questions about the company’s ability to fill shifts, manage medicines and take appropriate action for stroke patients. The NHS in Cambridgeshire sacked the company from running weekend and evening GP services in Fenland and east Cambridgeshire this month - four months before its contract was due to end - because of continuing safety concerns.
Now health chiefs in Suffolk have decided to switch out of hours provision to Harmoni HS, a company with six other similar NHS contracts.
Read more in The Guardian.
Tags: Out-of-hours, Privatisation
