www.mddus.com PLANS REVEALED TO TACKLE


MEDICATION ERRORS AMBITIOUS new plans to reduce medication errors in England have been unveiled by the health secretary as new research suggests they could contribute to as many as 22,000 deaths each year. An estimated 237 million medication errors occur every year,


GMC ACCEPTS NEW ENGLISH


LANGUAGE TEST OVERSEAS doctors who want to work in the UK can now sit an alternative, more practical English language test. The General Medical Council will


now accept the Occupational English Test (OET) as an alternative to the International English Language Test System (IELTS) which it already accepts as proof of language competency. The IELTS has faced criticism


for being overly academic and irrelevant to day-to-day healthcare. Example writing tests have included the history of elephants and how to make jam.


In contrast, the OET is designed specifically for healthcare professionals and includes real scenarios similar to those they would be likely to encounter in typical workplace situations. The test is already accepted by the UK’s Nursing and Midwifery Council, the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland, and authorities in Australia and New Zealand. GMC chief executive Charlie


Massey said: “We are giving overseas doctors an alternative way of demonstrating their English skills, but without reducing the high standards.”


REVIEW OF GROSS


NEGLIGENCE MANSLAUGHTER MDDUS has welcomed the announcement by Jeremy Hunt of an urgent review of gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare in light of the High Court case involving Dr Hadiza Bawa-Garba. Professor Sir Norman Williams’ review will report back by the end of


April 2018. It will look at lessons to be learned by the GMC and other professional regulators, as well as how reflective practice, openness and transparency can be protected so that mistakes are not covered up but recognised as learning opportunities. The review should also provide much-needed clarity to doctors about


where they stand with respect to criminal liability and professional misconduct. MDDUS joint head of medical division Dr John Holden said: “It is vital


that doctors experience an open and honest working environment and that they are able to learn from mistakes. We fully support any steps to encourage a learning culture that protects both patients and doctors.”


MULTIMILLION POUND PAYOUT FOR GP INNOVATION


TEN companies will share in a multimillion pound windfall to develop new technologies aimed at easing GP workloads. Awards ranging from £700,000 to £1 million will be used to fund innovations such as a low-cost test for sepsis, a self-care asthma monitor and a device that can tell the difference between viral and bacterial infections. A total payout of £8.7 million has been


announced by SBRI Healthcare, the NHS England initiative championed by 15 Academic Health Science Networks. SBRI said the funding was in response to


concerns over increasing GP workloads and was aimed at “future-proofing primary care and GP services.” The successful companies were chosen by a panel of experts who were “looking for game-changing technologies with the highest potential value to patients and the health service.” Other winning technologies include a device


that can perform immediate bacterial infection diagnosis and antibiotic susceptibility testing on urine samples within a GP setting, addressing the rising incidence of antimicrobial resistance that threatens to render current antibiotics ineffective.


ranging from delivering a prescription an hour late to a patient being given the wrong drugs. The new research suggests mistakes may cause around 1,700 deaths each year and cost the NHS £1.6 billion. Health and social care secretary Jeremy Hunt said that, while the


“vast majority” of prescriptions dispensed in the NHS are safe, more must be done to reduce patient harm and improve safety. His new measures include:


• New systems linking prescribing data in primary care to hospital admissions. This will allow NHS staff to see if a prescription was the likely cause of the hospital admission.


• New defences for pharmacists who make accidental medication errors, with less focus on prosecution for “genuine mistakes”. This aims to ensure the NHS learns from mistakes and builds a culture of openness and transparency.


• Accelerating the introduction of electronic prescribing systems across more NHS hospitals this year, which could reduce errors by up to 50 per cent.


Currently only a third of trusts are said to have a well-functioning


e-prescribing system. Mr Hunt also called for cultural change within the NHS and said there must be a move “from a blame culture to a learning culture so doctors and nurses are supported to be open about mistakes rather than cover them up for fear of losing their job.” RCGP chair Professor Helen Stokes-Lampard said the College


would welcome “any additional resources or technology that will help to further minimise the risks of making a medication error.” She added: “Systems better linking prescribing data in primary


care to hospital admissions sound like a particularly good and a necessary step forward.”


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