The secretary of state for health, Alan Milburn, has set up an independent inquiry into the issues raised by the murder of 15 patients by Dr Harold Shipman (5 February, p 331).
Mr Milburn told the House of Commons last week that the inquiry's main purpose was to make recommendations on how patients could best be safeguarded in the future. He said, “It is almost universally agreed that we have one of the finest family doctor services in the world,” but he emphasised, “we must be confident that we ... have the best systems for regulation and self regulation firmly in place.”
The inquiry will be comprehensive. It will look at the part played by all the agencies involved in the case, including the coroner, registrar, police, and health services. Victims' relatives will be able to give their views and experiences, and the report will be made public.
The minister said that the inquiry would examine measures needed to guard against the risks of isolated professional medical practice, GPs' access to controlled drugs, and the role of the NHS tribunal. The inquiry will also have to scrutinise the role and conduct of the West Pennine Health Authority, which has already suspended its GP adviser, and the involvement of the General Medical Council.
Lord Laming of Tewin, a former chief inspector of social services, will chair the inquiry, and he is expected to report by the end of September.
Mr Milburn told the Commons that steps were already being taken to deal with poor performance. The GMC was proposing a system of revalidation, and the report by the chief medical officer for England, Supporting Doctors, Protecting Patients, recommended how to deal with doctors whose behaviour was causing concern. He believed that “isolation in which an individual doctor's practice is hidden from view will be a thing of the past.”
In the future, doctors will be required to disclose any criminal convictions and any action taken against them in Britain or abroad before they can be appointed to medical lists.
It will be made compulsory for GPs to report deaths in their surgeries and other serious incidents to health authorities. The Department of Health will work with the Office for National Statistics to find better ways of monitoring deaths of GPs' patients.
Mr Milburn has asked the chief medical officer for England, Liam Donaldson, to commission an audit of Dr Shipman's past practice.
Figure.
PA
Alan Milburn outlines the aims of the Shipman inquiry