Call back for new
personal injury claims only

Leave your details to request a call back.

* Required fields

Name: *

Telephone No:*

What is it regarding:* New Personal Injury Claim Conveyancing Criminal Matter Employment Matter Wills Existing Case

Union member:* Yes No     

If you are a member of a trade union please select Yes otherwise please select No and then click Submit

You are in: Home Page | Personal Injury | Medical Negligence Claims | Clinical Negligence Articles and Clinical Negligence Factsheets | Rogue Doctors

June 2010

ROGUE DOCTORS

What is meant by the term Rogue Doctor?

Most people consult a doctor when they are feeling ill, weak and vulnerable, and place their trust in the doctor to make the right diagnosis and prescribe the right treatment.  At most, some would question the diagnosis or treatment, but very few, if any, would question whether the “doctor” is actually qualified and registered, as this is just assumed. However, we have been instructed by clients who have suffered injury as a result of being treated by a “doctor” who has held him/herself out as medically qualified, when they have no medical qualifications.

Example of a Rogue Doctor Case

One such case is where a lady held herself out as a qualified doctor and was employed by a number of GP practices in the area, when she was in fact an unqualified and unregistered person.

After the hoax was discovered the Strategic Health Authority carried out a lengthy investigation and published a detailed report, under the heading “Practising Under False Pretences”.

The most significant problems highlighted in the report, included the following:-

i) The failure of GP practices to use safe employment procedures,
ii) The failure of Primary Care Trusts to follow safe performance procedures;
iii) The failure to inform the Police of the criminal offence;
iv) The failure to alert other Practices and PCTs to the risk;
v) The failure to find out if the Rogue doctor had worked in other Practices;

The root cause was identified as a failure to use safe locum employment procedures. Some of the practices had no written guidelines for the employment of GP locums, and other practices had failed to use the GMC website to check registration despite the fact that the PCT had specially informed them of how to use the website.

At one practice the locum was not expected to use the computer so consultations were recorded in the manual records.

The rogue Doctor adopted a practice of writing out pre signed blank prescriptions for receptionists which resulted in the receptionist changing medication without subsequent checks by the a doctor to ensure that the changes were correct.

The report was also very critical of the service level agreement between the PCT and the GP service provider, which only dealt with financial arrangements, and failed to outline an action plan to ensure basic minimum acceptable levels of management.

Some of the practices where she had been employed had not even asked to see a CV, let alone proof of medical qualification. The GP practices had employed the rogue doctor without asking for references or checking that she had attended medical school, or making any checks with the General Medical Council, GMC, who are responsible for regulating all doctors registered and practising in the UK.

Another alarming point that came out of the report was the fact that a number of patients that had been seen by the Rogue doctor were not told that they had been treated by a non-qualified person.

A few patients died following their consultations with the rogue doctor and a further review was planned to establish whether the deaths were related in any way to the consultations.

A number of recommendations were made in the report including a GMC protocol to include an assumption that a person is unqualified if there is no confirmation of qualification.

23 people in nine different organisations made it possible for the rogue doctor to be employed as a doctor in three different GP practices. The “doctor” bypassed all safeguards and treated hundreds of patients.

Other causes for concern

Apart from pretending to be a doctor, another growing concern in the UK, is the way that medical students who have failed UK courses have gone on to study medicine at English–language medical schools in Europe, which gives then them the right to practice in the UK even though they might not have been admitted to the medical register had they continued their studies here.

In addition to the issue of “rogue” doctors, there is also concern that doctors who raise concerns about their colleagues find that their concerns are not being acted on. This means that patient safety is being dismissed or ignored by health officials and the Government is now looking into ways to strengthen the protection given to doctors who report their colleagues for poor practice, by allowing them to claim anonymity without fear of reprisal or being ignored.

It should also be noted that each year thousands of hospital patients die as a result of human error, which raises concerns that doctors don’t take their patient’s safety seriously enough.

Errors happen not just because of lack of skill or knowledge but for behavioural reasons. Put someone in an extremely stressful situation and even the most senior clinicians make mistakes.

It took the inquiry into the Bristol Royal Infirmary to force the medical establishments to take safety seriously.

In the US the error rate is lower than in the UK. There patients are encouraged to ask about a surgeon’s training and success rates, and query medication.

If you have any concerns regarding the standard of medical care that you have received from a doctor, you should seek legal advice and we can consider whether the matter needs to be referred to the General Medical Council.

Compensation Claim Advice

Thompsons Solicitors have years of experience in dealing with cases involving clinical negligence.

If you or anyone you know has suffered from any form of clinical negligence, telephone us now for accurate claim advice.

There are strict time limits in place to make any personal injury compensation claim. For further information, contact us or visit our Questions Answered page.

Thompsons Solicitors are experts in all matters relating to clinical negligence and will be able to advise you as to whether or not you have a valid claim for compensation. Our specialist clinical negligence lawyers will be happy to talk you through the process of making a claim in plain English and will be happy to answer any questions or queries you may have.

Telephone us now on 08000 224 224 or complete one of our online personal injury compensation claim forms.