All 152 NHS organisations responsible for out-of-hours GP services in England have been ordered to review patient safety following the case of a German doctor who accidentally killed a patient on his first shift in Britain.
PCTs, which commission emergency overnight and weekend care for millions of people, will receive letters today from the Department of Health telling them to re-examine induction and training for foreign doctors, call-handling and prioritising of cases, clinical decisions made by GPs and other staff and the management of powerful drugs.
The instruction reinforces a warning from the NHS watchdog the Care Quality Commission that shortcomings so far identified in its investigation of the incident may be repeated elsewhere.
Government officials and Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, have been asked by ministers to consider whether further changes are needed nationally to the system under which local trusts check that doctors are fit to practise and speak and understand English.
The government response reflects concern within the NHS over the case in which Daniel Ubani killed David Gray at his home in Cambridgeshire by administering a tenfold overdose of a painkiller. There are fears that Gray’s death highlights systemic failures.
Read more at The Guardian.
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Tags: Diamorphine, Out-of-hours, Patient safety
