The doctor who referred a colleague providing single vaccines for measles, mumps, and rubella to the General Medical Council has defended his actions as the only available way of raising issues of patients' safety in the private sector.
Professor Brian McCloskey, director of public health for Worcestershire Health Authority, said that he had been caught in the middle of two conflicting clinical views and has asked the General Medical Council to take a further look into the issue and concerns it raised regarding patients' safety. “The lesson of Bristol is that the NHS is not good at responding to patient safety issues,” he said.
Commenting on his experience at the centre of media coverage in the past week, he added: “The message to the profession is that this is what happens when you whistleblow, and it is not very encouraging.” He also defended his decision to refer the matter to the General Medical Council, saying no other body investigates private practitioners.
Peter Mansfield, the doctor at the centre of the allegations, has been giving the vaccinations at a private clinic in Worcestershire since May this year. The clinic, run by the company Desumo, takes place twice a month. The monovalent vaccines are available in Britain to children who have previously had a reaction to the standard MMR vaccine or who have already started the vaccine course, normally with a single rubella vaccine. Such use is licensed, and the Worcestershire clinic gives the remaining vaccines six weeks apart.
Mansfield, who has been an independent practitioner for nearly 35 years, said as far as he knows the GMC is currently being briefed. He has not been given a definite date for any hearing.
“I do not understand the basis of their allegations and await further clarification,” he said. “I am sure there has been a misunderstanding somewhere.”
Mansfield is concerned about the issues the case raises regarding informed consent and, ultimately, clinical freedom. But he can see no reason to stop providing the vaccines.
Dr Peter Copp, a private GP in Edinburgh who has provided single vaccines for more than 2000 children in the past year, echoed Dr Mansfield's concerns. He said that this was no longer just a public health issue but, more importantly, it raised the question of clinical freedom.