Medico Legal – Expert Witness : Medico Legal – page 9

Surgeons call for legal protection of job title

Expert Witness surgeons story picture of surgeons operating from US armed forces pics The Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) has called on the Government to legally protect the job title 'surgeon', so only those who have qualified as a medical doctor and undertaken post-graduate surgical training can use the title. The call follows publication of a survey for its patient group, which found that 95% of adults in Great Britain would expect an individual using the job title 'surgeon' to have a medical degree.

The poll, carried out by ICM, reveals the overwhelming level of public trust that surgeons are medically qualified, despite the fact that there are no legal restrictions about who can and can't be called a surgeon.

Profession welcomes Howe report, but victims remain unimpressed

Your Expert Witness Lord Howe The biggest scandal to have hit the plastic surgery profession took a new turn with the publication on 14 May of health minister Lord Howe’s review of the PiP breast implants affair. Lord Howe found that, although the regulator acted appropriately and followed scientific and clinical advice, there is room for improvement and serious lessons must be learned.

Lord Howe was tasked with looking into whether the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and the Department of Health acted properly both before and after information about the implants came to light. He made a number of recommendations for improvements to the operation of the MHRA, including that it should identify ways of gathering better evidence on the safety of devices, broaden its approach to analysing reported problems with higher risk medical devices and find better ways of communicating with the public.

One in 20 GP prescriptions contains an error

Your Expert Witness pills A major study of GP prescribing has found that, while the vast majority of prescriptions written by family doctors are appropriate and effectively monitored, around one in 20 contain an error.

Researchers looking at a sample of GP practices in England found that where there were errors, most were classed as mild or moderate, but around 1 in every 550 prescription items was judged to contain a serious error. The most common errors were missing information on dosage, prescribing an incorrect dosage, and failing to ensure that patients got necessary monitoring through blood tests.

Developers LSHP open twelfth completed health centre in Liverpool

Your Expert Witness LSHP Liverpool’s latest purpose built health centre was officially unveiled earlier this week by Gideon Ben Tovim, Chair of Liverpool PCT and Graham Pink , Chief Executive of Merseyside development firm LSHP Ltd.

The new £6m development based on Mere Lane in Everton is the second development to be delivered in the area after a £6 million centre opened on Townsend Lane in January, and was announced following an eight-week consultation, which saw an overwhelming 94% of respondents in favour of the proposals.

NHS reforms will lead to more litigation, warns expert

A partner in a leading firm specialising in health and education issues has warned local authority legal departments they face a “wave of legal difficulties” following the Government’s NHS reforms.

Ben Troke, a partner at Browne Jacobson, was addressing the annual weekend school of Solicitors in Local Government annual weekend school. He said that the Health and Social Care Act “…will mean more tension; more litigation; more disputes.

“In six to 12 months you’ll be stopped in shopping centres by eager young people with clipboards asking if you’ve been disappointed by a decision on care funding,” he said.