http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_world_st...%3fformat=html

Shipman report slams medical watchdog


Dec 10, 2004

An enquiry into Harold Shipman, the family physician who became Britain's worst serial killer, lambasted the nation's medical watchdog, saying it cares more for doctors than it does for patients.

In a new report, the long-running Shipman enquiry said the General Medical Council (GMC) was too focused on "looking after their own", and doubted its ability to protect patients from "dysfunctional or under-performing doctors".

Shipman, 57, who hanged himself in his prison cell in January this year, is believed to have killed at least 215 patients with lethal injections of morphine at his practice in Manchester, in the north of England, over a 23-year period.

The most prolific serial killer ever to be convicted in Britain, he was jailed for life in January 2000 on 15 counts of murder. He always denied his crimes.

"Having examined the evidence, I have been driven to the conclusion that the GMC has not, in the past, succeeded in its primary purpose of protecting patients," said High Court justice Janet Smith, the head of the enquiry.

"Instead it has, to a very significant degree, acted in the interests of doctors," Smith said in what she conceded was a "bruising" report, the fifth in a series into Shipman's crimes and the circumstances surrounding them.

Founded in 1858 under an act of parliament, the GMC is responsible for licensing doctors in Britain and bringing disciplinary proceedings against those suspected of malpractice and wrongdoing.

"We are not here to protect the medical profession... Our job is to protect patients," it says on its website.

But in a 1,300-page report released, the Shipman enquiry disputed that claim, as it set out more than 100 recommendations for change, including direct accountability by the GMC to parliament and more non-doctors on its board.

It expressed doubts about the effectiveness of reforms already put in place by the GMC in light of the Shipman affair.

"I am by no means convinced that the new GMC procedures will adequately protect patients from dysfunctional or under-performing doctors," wrote Smith in the report.

"I have concluded there has has not yet been the change of culture within the GMC that will ensure that patient protection is given the priority it deserves."

Shipman had been allowed to carry on practising by the GMC despite being convicted of drug offences in 1976 after becoming addicted to the opiate pethidine as a young doctor.

Despite a very high death rate among patients at his one-man suburban practice, other doctors failed to raise concerns.

"It seems to me that one of the fundamental problems for the GMC is the perception, shared by many doctors, that it is supposed to be 'representing' them. It is not. It is regulating them," Smith said.

The report, titled "Safeguarding Patients: Lessons from the Past, Proposals for the Future", will be sent to the Department of Health, which will consider its recommendations.

Health Secretary John Reid said the government would consider the inquiry's findings in detail before making a proper response in the new year.

"We need to learn lessons from the mistakes of the past to help safeguard patients in the future," he said.

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