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The National Health Service and
GP
negligence in particular
have been thrust into the limelight recently following the inquest into the death of David Gray.
The coroner’s findings found that systemic
failings in
the NHS led directly to his death at the hands of Dr
Daniel Ubani, a German doctor, who had just flown in to
the UK for his first shift in this country.
Dr Ubani gave Mr Gray a fatal
dose of the painkiller
diamorphine, 10 times the
recommended amount. Dr Ubani,
who claimed that his own
tiredness led to the death, was
working for private company Take
Care Now, who were themselves
subcontracted by the
Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust to provide
out-of-hours care.
The coroner at the inquest
said: “How was it that a doctor,
who did not obtain his
qualifications in this country,
whose first language was not
English, who was probably
fatigued, who received a less
than adequate induction and who
was unfamiliar with the NHS
system, and who did not know the
area, came to be treating
patients in Cambridgeshire, and
treating at least some of them
incompetently? How was this
lamentable situation reached?"
It was a question many were
posing and the answers were
apparent upon close inspection
of out-of-hours care and the
ways in which it has changed in
recent years.
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/outofhours-gp-services-lamentable-1889947.html
Out-of-hours (OOH) care has
been the focus of increasing
concern since primary care
trusts assumed responsibility. A
shortage of doctors willing to
take up work has meant that Primary Care Trusts
often employ private companies,
many of whom use overseas
doctors.
The problems in the shortage
of GP cover date back to 2004
when doctors negotiated new
contracts which gave them a
large increase in their annual
salary, whilst allowing them to
opt out of providing
round-the-clock care. This made
GPs responsible for the care of
their patients between the hours
of 8am and 6.30pm with the
various primary care trusts
being left with the
responsibility of sorting out
after-hours-care.
The move was widely welcomed
by GPs themselves who had seen
recruitment fall and
disenchantment grow, largely
because many colleagues were
worn out through an ever
increasing number of phone calls
out of hours.
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