Health watchdog blames botched operations on foreign doctors hired by clinics without vetting
Sunday, 15 July 2007
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Ministers are to be warned this week that independent clinics set up to take the pressure off mainstream NHS hospitals are responsible for unacceptable levels of mistakes.
A report by health watchdogs will say clinics that rely heavily on foreign doctors have been responsible for a number of botched operations that had to be rectified by mainstream hospitals.
The Department of Health was warned three and a half years ago about failing to screen foreign doctors working in clinics carrying out surgery for the NHS.
The revelation, given added urgency by evidence that foreign doctors were behind an alleged suicide bombing mission in Glasgow, has alarmed MPs who have questioned why the NHS failed to beef up its background checks.
Inquiries into botched operations in independent surgical clinics revealed worrying weaknesses in the vetting of overseas practitioners and prompted senior NHS staff to demand a review of vetting procedures at the end of 2003.
Almost four in 10 doctors registered to work in the UK qualified overseas, coming from 150 different countries. Government reports suggest there will be a shortage of 1,000 doctors and over 14,000 nurses by 2010.
A report by the medical watchdog, the Healthcare Commission, is likely to highlight not only the cost of NHS clinics set up to perform quick operations, but also the standard of operations carried out in them.
The Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTCS), which are staffed by a high proportion of doctors from abroad, have led to negligence cases involving medics whose backgrounds haven't been fully scrutinised.
ISTCS were part of Tony Blair's flagship NHS reforms designed to cut waiting times. Set up within the NHS, they were meant to take the pressure off hospitals and perform procedures such as shoulder, hip and knee operations.
Lawyers representing patients suffering from faulty hip and knee replacements say claims on doctors' CVs were not properly checked, and that the NHS was warned of the vetting problems in 2003 after several botched operations.
Sandra Patton, a lawyer with Kester Cunningham John, represented one patient who suffered a bungled operation performed by a foreign doctor who was referring to a textbook as he operated.
"We have been concerned for some time about the standards of screening and recruitment of overseas surgeons, and have sought to bring the Government's attention to these issues.
"My client believes that had their doctor been properly screened, they would not find themselves in the position they are today, left with permanent disabilities."
