GPs who fail to spot cancer could be named

GPs with a poor record in spotting signs of cancer could be publicly named under new government plans.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt wants to expose doctors whose failure to spot cancer may delay sending patients for potentially life-saving scans.

Labour called the idea "desperate" and accused Mr Hunt of attacking doctors.

The Royal College of GPs said it would be a "crude" system and one that could lead to GPs sending people to specialists indiscriminately.

It warned this could result in flooding hospitals with healthy people.

The move is part of the health secretary's plans to make the NHS more transparent.

Ranking GP surgeries on how quickly they spot cases of cancer and refer patients for treatment is among proposals being considered.

The information could eventually be published on the NHS website.

This follows a survey for the NHS last year, which suggested that more than a quarter of people eventually diagnosed with cancer had seen their GP at least three times before being sent to a specialist.

"We need to do much better," the health secretary told the Mail on Sunday.

"Cancer diagnosis levels around the country vary significantly and we must do much more to improve both the level of diagnosis and to bring those GP practices with poor referral rates up to the standards of the best."

Doctors found to be missing too many cases of cancer or with patients who are forced to make repeated visits before being referred for tests would be marked with a red flag.

A patient's story
Susan has a sister with terminal cancer.

She told the BBC: "My sister was first told she had a prolapsed womb, then piles. "By the time she was seen by an oncologist, eight months had elapsed.

"She has terminal squamous cell anal cancer - completely curable if caught early enough. "She is 62, and now has a few months to live. "One of the classic mistakes the GP made was to diagnose anal bleeding as piles. It wasn't - it was the tumour.

"This doctor has condemned my sister to a year, so far, of terrible suffering and a death which is too dreadful to contemplate, when she could have been completely cured. 

"Prognosis is something like 96% complete cure if treated early." Susan believes her sister's GP should be "named and shamed" but thinks each case should be considered on an individual basis.

"As a retired teacher, I know what being continually maligned, judged, overlooked and overloaded can do to morale and performance," she added.

Those found with quick referral times for patients would be given a green rating.

Shadow health minister Jamie Reed said the government would not take responsibility for problems it had created in the NHS.

"David Cameron wasted billions on a re-organisation nobody wanted and left cancer patients waiting longer for tests and treatment. He should be ashamed of his own record - not attacking doctors," he said.

"This government has thrown away progress made on cancer care. It is proof of why the Tories can't be trusted with the NHS."

'Clog up clinics'
Dr Chaand Nagpaul, chair of the British Medical Association general practitioners committee, said to name and shame doctors would not help patients.

He said it was important to understand why there were delays in making referrals and to raise public awareness about the signs and symptoms of cancer.

"We need to look at the whole system and if you simply name and shame GPs, the tendency would be for us to refer everyone," he told the BBC.

"And that can be a disadvantage because if we clog up hospital outpatient clinics, we'll get patients who need to see their specialist actually having to wait longer."

Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston, a former GP who chairs the Commons health select committee, said the government needed to be careful not to wrongly label people as "poor doctors".

She too warned there was a danger of automatically referring everyone to a specialist and creating "impossibly long waiting lists", which could harm those needing to be seen urgently.

Rising demand
Dr Wollaston added that she could not see how GPs could maintain current levels of service amid rising demand without a funding injection.

"The NHS budget has been protected in line with background inflation but that does not keep pace with inflation in health costs from rising demand and demographic changes," she said.

"I don't want to see any reduction in services. I would like to see further improvements and that will require an increase in funding."

Dr Wollaston joined Conservative former health secretary Stephen Dorrell and Lib Dem former health minister Paul Burstow in calling for increased funding for the NHS.

Mr Burstow warned that the NHS was in danger of collapse within five years without extra spending. He said the health service needed an extra £15bn over that period in order to function properly.

Mr Dorrell said he would be ashamed if the government failed to increase NHS funding at a time when the economy was growing.

"I am in favour of the government not denying what 5,000 years of history tells us is true, which is that every time a society gets richer it spends a rising share of its income on looking after the sick and the vulnerable," he told The Observer.

Mum dies after cervical cancer misdiagnosed 30 times

A mother-of-four died after doctors missed 30 chances to diagnose her cervical cancer, an inquest heard.

Jeannine Harvey, 33, was so debilitated by pain she was unable to get out of bed without help.

However, despite consultations with her GP and doctors at three hospitals, her cervical cancer was repeatedly misdiagnosed as a potential torn ligament, protruding discs, sarcoma and "nerve pain".

Doctors even suggested at one point that her agony was caused by anxiety.

Miss Harvey's sister became so desperate for her sibling to be treated she once got down on her knees and begged doctors to admit her.

By the time medics realised the accountancy student - whose youngest child was only two when she died - was suffering from advanced uterine cancer of the cervix, it was too late.

She died at a hospice in July 2012 - eight months after a blood test first raised concerns.

Miss Harvey died of uterine cancer of the cervix, which was misdiagnosed on more than 30 occasions.

Repeated failures were made by medical staff to recognise, diagnose and treat her, the inquest heard.

Miss Harvey's sister, Marie Donovan, said ahead of the inquest: "All we've ever wanted is for someone to tell us how it was possible for medical professionals to miss so many opportunities to correctly diagnose and treat our sister, whose suffering and death were entirely preventable.

"Throughout Jeannine's illness, we got the impression that no one was listening to us, and felt doctors were constantly patronising us by saying it was Jeannine's anxiety that was making her pain worse."

Speaking three months after her death, Ms Donovan, from West Heath, Birmingham, said her sister's treatment was "like something out of the Dark Ages".

She added: "My beautiful sister was in agony, she was crippled with pain, but no one listened to her."

Miss Harvey left behind four children who, at the time of her death, were Paul, 16, Jack, 12, Frankie, five, and Ella, two.

Miss Harvey, from the West Middlands first complained of pain in her left leg and abdomen in December 2011.

An ultrasound scan - conducted after the blood test for ovarian cancer came back "elevated" - revealed a mass 4cm wide in her pelvic area.

But a laparoscopy six weeks later at City Hospital in Birmingham, appeared to show the mass had vanished, and she was sent back to her GP for physiotherapy.

Days later and still in pain, she was taken to accident and emergency at Sandwell Hospital where doctors diagnosed a possible torn ligament.

An MRI scan in March 2012 led to a new diagnosis of protruding discs, with doctors claiming anxiety was the main source of her pain.

Ms Donovan claims that, when her sister was finally admitted to the Medical Assessment Unit at City Hospital on April 18 2012, she was in such a poor state a nurse assumed she was a cancer patient.

Days later, Miss Harvey was misdiagnosed again, this time with sarcoma - a type of cancer that develops in connective tissues.

A routine biopsy at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital prior to starting chemotherapy found squamous cell tissue, which could only have originated in the cervix.

By the time her treatment began, the tumour - now 8cm - had become infected and shattered her pelvic bone. She was admitted to a hospice on July 13 2012 and died ten days later.

Jill Davies, the family's lawyer at national law firm Access Legal, said: "This is one of the most tragic and distressing cases I have seen and it has implications for the diagnosis and timely treatment of cancer on a national basis.

"Even if Jeannine could not have been cured, it is possible that with an earlier correct diagnosis she may have avoided months of pain at the end of her life."

Cervical cancer is a rare type of cancer that develops in a woman's cervix.

It often has no symptoms in the early stages meaning it is often not diagnosed until it is more advanced.

A Facebook page called Justice4Jeannine was set up by Miss Harvey's family shortly after her death to share her story with the wider world.

Ms Donovan said: "Nothing can ever bring our sister back, but we know her story has made a difference.

"We've had messages from people who say Jeannine's case has pushed them not to accept an initial diagnosis, good or bad, and go for further tests.

"Because of Jeannine, many people are alive and receiving treatment today who otherwise might have died in similar circumstances."

Roger Stedman, medical director at Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, said: "Our sincere condolences are passed on to Jeannine's family at this very difficult time and we are sorry for the distress suffered.

"Following Jeannine's death we carried out a detailed internal investigation where we identified several areas where we fell short in our expected high standard of care.

"This included a failure to make an adequate and timely diagnosis and our failure to adequately treat Jeannine's pain as a result, in the last days of her life.

"We have met with Jeannine's family and expressed our sincere apologies for these failings and would wish to extend that apology again.

"Our investigations indicate that an MRI of Jeannine's pelvis should have been carried out following a laparoscopy performed in February 2012, and for this we are truly sorry.

"It is clear that appropriate treatment would have brought forward the date of diagnosis and would have prevented pain and suffering.

"Sadly, it would appear that Jeannine's cancer was already at a stage that it would not have been curable."

This article is courtesy of The New Zealand Herald.

What is negligence? :Infographic

                  

This infographic is courtesy of Blackwater Law.

Widow sues GP for £1.25 million after he 'misdiagnosed her husband's deadly cancer as PILES'

A grieving widow is suing a GP for £1.25million because she believes he misdiagnosed her husband's deadly cancer as piles.

Christopher Goodhead, died aged just 41 in January 2009, four years after the examination by Dr Asim Islam, who performed the exam on his first day in the job.

His devastated widow Melissa Cutting claims Dr Islam's allegedly inadequate examination caused a fatal 'delay in diagnosis' of her husband's condition until 2007.

Furious Mrs Cutting, who has been left to look after her four sons, who were aged between five and 11 at the time, heard the news of his rectal cancer in 2007 - just weeks after Mr Goodhead had completd the London Marathon.

The IT expert, originally from Burton-on-Trent, Staffordshire, had visited the doctor two years earlier at The Stanstead Surgery, in Essex, near his new home in Suffolk.

Lawyers for his widow told London's High Court Dr Islam, on his first day in the job, carried out nothing more than a 'simple visual examination' and failed to thoroughly investigate the problems.

Dr Islam denies any responsibility for the death, and his legal team insist Mr Goodhead 'would have died in any event' even with specialist treatment from 2005.

Robert Seabrook QC, representing Mrs Cutting, told the court Mr Goodhead had left the surgery believing he had nothing worse than piles.

He said: 'He left the surgery believing that his diagnosis was certain, non-serious, and that no further medical input was necessary.

'Had he been advised to return for review - or if symptoms continued - he would have done so.

'It is our case that, with competent assessment and treatment in April 2005, a diagnosis of cancer would have been made in May 2005.

'He would have been successfully treated and would have lived, or would at least have had an increased length of time to live.

'The defence case is that, even with earlier diagnosis and treatment, he would still have died on exactly the same day - or not significantly later.'

Mr Goodhead and his wife received the horrifying news that he was suffering from stage four cancer in June 2007.

Soon he began to undergo chemotherapy - but it was not enough to prevent the virulent cancer spreading through his body.

He died at home less than two years later in January 2009 but Mr Seabrook argued that given his 'gritty' character and "exceptional" fitness he would have stood a chance of beating the disease if given longer.

Claire Toogood, representing Dr Islam, told the court it would have been 'ludicrous' for her client to diagnose cancer from the symptoms he was presented with.

She said: 'It would hav ebeen ludicrous for a GP to have worried Mr Goodhead that he had cancer in circumstances where there were absolutely no pointers towards it.'

On a memorial site dedicated to her late husband Mrs Cutting described Christopher as 'an amazing man with a very big heart. He adored his family and was a wonderful husband and father.'

Compensation in the case has been agreed at £1,250,000 if the widow can prove he would have 'survived and lived' but for the alleged negligence.

Judge Dame Frances Patterson QC has reserved her judgement on the claim until a later date.

This article is courtesy from The Daily Mail.

Doctors more likely to receive a complaint than ever before

It is a source of increasing concern to doctors that they are more likely to be the subject of a complaint or claim than ever before.

This news won't come as a surprise to many – a recent Medical Protection Society (MPS) survey indicates more than half – 58% – of respondents have been subject to a complaint, claim, or GMC investigation in the past 12 months. More than 90% know of a colleague who has had a similar experience. Analysing the number of claims that UK members have reported to us, we have seen them increase by 40% from 2011 to 2012.

But why are complaints and claims going up? Put simply, patients expect more from each and every healthcare interaction. There is an increased willingness to take action when things don't turn out as expected – and while patients should not be inhibited from speaking out if they have a negative experience – this has to be considered against a backdrop of clinicians being asked to do more with less.

There is a perfect storm of doctors struggling to provide the service they wish to because of a lack of resources, combined with increasing expectations. Negative press coverage, appearing with relentless regularity, doesn't help morale, either. Advertising by clinical negligence litigators is now commonplace. Recent reforms to legal costs may help redress this balance, but it's still too early to tell. Permeating all these factors is the way healthcare reforms and the pursuit of targets are seen to have steadily eroded the personalised doctor-patient relationship.

Over the last five to ten years, the delivery of healthcare has changed and now has a striking similarity to the manufacture of components in a factory. So driven is the NHS by the idea of targets and productivity, we have lost sight of the most important thing: the patient experience. It's about time that we re-focus on the important values of professionalism and caring for our patients.

The big reviews of 2013 – Francis, Berwick and Keogh – also highlight the need for change. MPS put out a strong plea for the independence of the role of the chief inspector of hospitals (CIH), writing to Jeremy Hunt in conjunction with the BMA in July. We are pleased to see there will now be an appropriate level of impartiality for the public whistleblower. The main challenge for the CIH will be addressing the view that this role will simply add another layer of bureaucracy. 45% of MPS members surveyed believe the role will not support a change to the culture of openness that is needed in hospitals. Healthcare managers have an important role to play in ensuring this isn't just reform for reform's sake.

MPS welcomes Berwick's recommendations for building a patient safety culture rooted in transparency, openness and continual learning. Hospital trusts must genuinely listen to the views of patients and staff, and engage with them to improve services.

For too long healthcare has been driven by targets. A quarter of MPS members believe professional standards have deteriorated, with 81% attributing this to "targets trumping clinical needs". The current call for a change in culture presents an opportunity to take on board the essence of 2013's reports and reassert the importance of professionalism in delivering high-quality care and a better experience for patients and their doctors.

This article is courtesy from the Guardian.

GP Negligence Claim Service Providers

There a number of patients in the United Kingdom who have received the wrong medical advice and treatment from their GP and community caregivers. Such affected patients lose faith with their long term GP care giver and look for an alternative. They can claim compensation for the wrong diagnoses and treatment provided by the GP caregiver. These claims fall under the category of personal injury medical negligence compensation claims. The affected patient has to make the compensation claim within a specific time period. The solicitor experienced in handling cases related to general practitioner medical or clinical negligence resulting in personal injury will be able to guide the affected patient in a timely manner.

Usually the accident solicitors would advise the affected patients to talk to their GP caregiver and find out the reason for the faulty treatment given. If the affected patient is not able to get the problem resolved, the solicitors experienced in handling personal injury claims would advise the client to go for a formal compliant. In order to make a compliant against the GP, the affected patient has to contact the practice manager. For complaining about a hospital, the patients or their family members need to establish contact with the complaints manager. As the GP caregiver will have the help of an experienced solicitor, the affected patient need to also go for an experienced personal injury solicitor. These experienced accident solicitors have helped a large number of affected parties to get their compensation claims.

The delay in diagnoses or wrong diagnoses has often resulted in the patient suffering badly. In one such case, a woman was admitted to a hospital for the injuries suffered in a fall. A nurse and a doctor examined her and despite the presence of three fractures in the radial portion of head, distal radius and the thumb portion the doctor failed to identify the fracture. The GP caregiver also didn’t advise the affected person to go for X-ray scanning. By the time the fractures were identified, the situation had gotten out of control and the patient’s injury problems worsened. She couldn’t get out of her bed for the next two months. The affected patient was not able to do even daily house hold tasks such as knitting and driving. She couldn’t go for work and was on loss of pay. The patient then took the help of a renowned clinical negligence solicitor and got compensation worth 110,000 pounds for the clinical negligence shown by the GP caregiver and the nurses employed with the clinic.

Children left disabled by meningitis after GPs failed to diagnose them are paid £28m in compensation

Millions of pounds a year are being paid out in compensation for childhood meningitis cases missed by GPs, new figures have reveal.

Between 2008 and 2012, at least £28 million was given to families of children left permanently disabled as a result of GPs’ failure to diagnose the deadly infection, or refer suspected cases for emergency treatment.

The Medical Defence Union, which made the payments on behalf of doctors in its insurance scheme, issued the alarming statistics recently as a warning to members of the dangers of missing meningitis.

One case involved a sum of £2.5million following a failure to refer a four-year-old child to hospital by a GP working out of hours.

The child was later diagnosed with meningitis B and suffered severe disabilities, including the loss of a leg.

The MDU said it is not unusual for cases to settle for well in excess of £1m because of the cost of providing care for disabled patients for the rest of their lives.

Of the 17 claims it settled in the four year period, five involved out-of-hours consultations and two, home visits.

The mounting compensation bill has renewed pressure for the Department of Health to sanction the use of a new meningitis B vaccine, which was rejected in July by a panel of experts on the grounds that it was not cost-effective.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, made up infectious disease experts, ruled against the life-saving jab and said more research was needed to confirm it was worth the cost of giving it to all infants.

But meningitis charities last night said the soaring compensation pay-outs highlight the need for the vaccine to be introduced immediately.

‘We think this strengthens the argument for the vaccine to be introduced as soon as possible,’ said Linda Glennie, head of research and medical information at the Meningitis Research Foundation.

‘We know from our own research that 50 per cent of children with meningococcal disease are sent home the first time they see their GP.'

‘Yet these compensation payments are not included in the cost-effectiveness analysis on the vaccine.’

The Foundation says millions more have been paid out by NHS hospital trusts over the last decade for children and adults harmed by failure to spot meningitis.

It says that money came from funds that would otherwise have been spent on patient care.

In 2011, schoolgirl Lydia Cross won a £1.78m payout after losing both her legs as a baby when a GP refused to carry out a home visit, despite pleas from her parents Tony and Jodie Cross, from Braunton in Devon.

Lydia - now aged 12 - hopes to take part in the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro, racing the 100 metres on blades similar to those made famous by South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius.
Dr Sharmala Moodley, deputy head of claims at the MDU, said: ‘Meningitis is thankfully a rare disease, meaning most GPs will only see one or two cases in a lifetime of practice.

‘But failure to diagnose it can have devastating consequences for patients, some of whom will suffer irreversible injuries such as brain damage, loss of limbs and organ damage.'

‘This is reflected in the high costs of compensation payments, especially where cases involve children who may need care for many years to come.’

She said GPs faced a major challenge because the early features of meningitis are often the same as those of minor viral illnesses.

A vaccine against the meningitis C strain, introduced more than a decade ago, is thought to have saved thousands of lives.

But the deadly B strain still strikes around 1,800 people a year, killing one in ten. The vast majority are children under five.

Tests suggest the vaccine, called Bexsero, is effective against 73 per cent of the different subtypes of meningitis B.

This article is courtesy from the Daily Mail.

Grandmother, 55, died from cervical cancer after her GP dismissed her symptoms as the menopause

A devoted grandmother died from cervical cancer after her GP repeatedly dismissed her symptoms as the menopause.

Cheryl Humpage, 55, died in July 2010 after huge tumours spread - despite her undergoing an aggressive course of chemotherapy.

Almost 18 months earlier in February 2008, the grandmother-of-three and former factory worker sought medical help after complaining of nausea, unusual bleeding and fever.

Her GP, Dr Martin Crowther, of St Peter's Surgery in Walsall, West Midlands, dismissed her symptoms as the menopause and she was prescribed HRT.

But her symptoms persisted and despite being examined by Dr Crowther a further three times, she was not diagnosed with cancer until a year later.

In March 2009, doctors finally diagnosed her with cancer after she was referred to a specialist at Walsall Manor Hospital but it was too late to save her and she died four months later.

Today her devastated husband Peter, 56, received a five-figure compensation pay-out from the GP's insurers after suing Dr Crowther for medical negligence.

Mr Humpage said: 'Cheryl was very concerned about her symptoms but she thought she was in safe hands.

'She was a great mum and grandmother and very family orientated, we're all absolutely heartbroken that she's no longer with us.

'It's very hard not to be angry about what happened. Cheryl should not have had to suffer like she did and if the cancer had been diagnosed earlier we believe we could have had longer with her.
'We just hope that what happened to Cheryl acts as a reminder to all of us about the importance of a quick diagnosis of cervical cancer.

'It is however still difficult to come to terms with out loss because we have never had any sort of apology or admission of responsibility to help us draw a line under everything that happened.
'Until then, I'm not sure that we can ever truly move forward.'

Dr Crowther today apologised for failing to detect Mrs Humpage's cancer. He said: 'I would like to take this opportunity to express my sincere sympathy to Mrs Humpage's family for their loss.
'I am sorry for the delay in making a diagnosis. I have reflected extensively on the episode and discussed it with colleagues and I have learned from this process, now being more aware of the danger in similar situations.'

Lindsay Tomlinson, from Irwin Mitchell Solicitors, who represented the family, said: 'This is a tragic case that has left a family devastated by the loss of a wife, mother and grandmother.'

'During out investigations an independent medical expert found that Cheryl's GP should have recognised her symptoms as typical of those experienced by cervical cancer sufferers.'

'Any yet no pelvic examination was made, she was not referred to a gynaecologist and no advice was given advising her to return for further medical attention should the bleeding continue.'

'Had she been referred earlier she would have avoided such a long period of pain and suffering without a diagnosis and our expert was of the opinion that on balance she would have lived for longer and had more time with her family.'

Ms Tomlinson added that if her cancer had been picked up earlier, her suffering would have been 'greatly reduced and it was 'incredibly hard for all her family to see her deteriorate so quickly'.

This article is courtesy from the Daily Mail.

Boy who developed narcolepsy after swine flu jab denied compensation

A seven-year-old who developed narcolepsy after having the swine flu vaccine has been refused compensation because he is not ill enough – despite the fact he sleeps for 19 hours a day.

Josh Hadfield developed the condition within three weeks of receiving the injection and now suffers ‘attacks’ which can cause him to doze throughout the day. 

Until he started medication he fell asleep up to every five minutes - even when he was walking, eating and swimming - and suffered sudden seizures when he laughed.

Earlier this year, the Government admitted that the Pandemrix jab could be to blame and Josh’s mother Caroline hoped she would get financial assistance to deal with his condition. 

But Josh has now been told he does not have a ‘severe’ enough disability to qualify for compensation. 

Ms Hadfield, 42, declared the decision ‘disgusting’ and said the condition had 
irreversibly changed his life.

She said: ‘At the end of the day this vaccine has irreversibly changed his life forever and there’s nothing we can do about this.

‘He has to take a very, very strong cocktail of drugs each day just to get through the day.’

Josh received the vaccine at his local GP surgery on January 21, 2010 after his 
mother was told he was ‘at risk’ of the H1N1 virus because he was under five.

But Ms Hadfield, of Frome, Somerset, said that within weeks of him having the vaccine she noticed a drastic change in her son.

‘He was a perfectly healthy energetic four-year-old before the vaccination, but within two weeks he was getting more tired and after three weeks he was sleeping for 19 hours a day.

‘Things then developed quickly and he struggled to walk.

‘Nothing could convince me it was anything but the jab which caused Josh’s conditions.

‘The Government had a knee-jerk reaction to swine flu and put out this vaccine, giving it to very young children.’

Josh is now on medication to control the condition but the family lives in constant fear of narcolepsy attacks.

Ms Hadfield, a civil servant, said: ‘Laughter can trigger attacks and sometimes he is too anxious to go out for fear of an incident. 

‘You see other children who can laugh and enjoy things and yes Josh can laugh and enjoy things but his reaction means that he goes unconscious.

‘We feel we are constantly treading on eggshells.’

The vaccine was widely used in the UK during the 2009 to 2010 flu pandemic 
and was given to almost one million children between the ages of six-months-old and five-years-old.

However, since 2011 it has not been given to people under the age of 20 because of the risk of narcolepsy.

The UK Health Protection Agency has found that giving the jab to young children increases their chance of developing narcolepsy by 14 times.

Researchers estimate that the chance of developing narcolepsy after receiving a dose of the vaccine is somewhere between one in 52,000 and one in 52,750.
Last month, the Government made a dramatic U-turn over Josh’s condition, admitting that, ‘on the balance of probability the jab contributed to his condition’.

But they then added: ‘It has not been accepted that disablement from vaccination is severe, i.e. at least 60 per cent.’

Families could be entitled to £120,000 through the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme if they can prove ‘severe’ disability.

But Ms Hadfield said: ‘Basically to get compensation you need to have something along the lines of loss of eyesight, loss of hearing, loss of limbs or basically not being able to do anything at all which I think is absolutely disgusting.’

A spokesperson for the Department for Work and Pensions, which runs the Vaccine Damage Payments Scheme, said: ‘DWP has looked at some vaccine damage payments cases again in light of new information regarding swine flu and narcolepsy provided by the Department for Health.

‘We cannot comment on the specifics of individual cases but can confirm that once this new information was taken into account it was decided, on balance of probability, in some cases that causation was proved.’

Ms Hadfield has now applied for legal aid to appeal against the decision.

This article is courtesy from the Daily Mail.

GP not punished for cancer misdiagnosis

A general practitioner who failed to diagnose a woman's bowel cancer for four years, despite multiple consultations, has escaped penalty for not providing reasonable care to her patient.

The woman was diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer in 2012 after four years of bowel problems, which were first brought to her GP's attention in May 2008.

At that consultation, the unnamed GP diagnosed the woman with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS) noting her young age - 49 at the time - and no history of bowel cancer.

Over the next four years, the woman visited the GP on several occasions, raising her bowel problems at least three times, alongside other ailments.

In August 2012, the woman requested to see another GP at the practice and was referred on to a specialist and diagnosed with advanced bowel cancer.

This article is courtesy of 3News.

Mother sues former Norwich GP, alleging negligence resulting in baby daughter’s permanent brain damage

A former Norwich GP is being sued for more than £1m by a mother who claims her baby daughter’s permanent brain damage was caused by the doctor’s negligence.

Jane Bygrave, the mother of Molly Bygrave, now aged 17, is taking Dr Robert MacGibbon to the High Court in London after she alleges he failed to advise her to take her seriously-ill infant to hospital.

Ms Bygrave, who lives on Oxwick Road in Horningtoft, near Dereham, claims that as a result her 10-week premature daughter now functions as a five-year-old, has cerebal palsy and epilepsy.

The claim form seen by the EDP says Molly “will never work or achieve independence”, has a wheelchair for outside of the home and needs 24-hour care.

It describes how in February 1996 11-week-old Molly was taken by her mum to see Dr MacGibbon at Wensum Valley Medical Practice on Bates Green in Norwich after she became ill with vomiting and diarrhoea.

The following morning, says the document, her condition had not improved and Ms Bygrave returned to the surgery where the doctor noted the baby looked “well” but was still vomiting.

Later that evening, the claim form says Ms Bygrave rang the doctor to ask him to visit urgently as Molly had got worse, was beginning to appear “cold, drowsy and tired”, and had started to lose her colour, “becoming grey”.

The doctor said he would visit in the morning and advised Molly’s mother to wrap her daughter up warmly and give her regular fluids, according to the claim.

When he came to the house the next day, the claim says, he did not examine Molly and noted she was “better” and “sleeping”.

The claim submitted by Ms Bygrave’s solicitors, Norwich-based Rogers and Norton, says: “In fact, when the defendant [Dr MacGibbon] visited at 7.30am on the Sunday morning, Molly was not ‘better’ but was cold, grey, dehydrated and obviously seriously ill.

“These facts would have been detectable on any responsible assessment.”

Molly was taken to the A&E department, the claim document says, at the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital that afternoon where she was found to be seriously ill with a temperature of 29 degrees – eight degrees below normal.

She was moved to a specialist unit at the Glenfield Hospital in Leicester the next day with a transfer note from the N&N stating, according to the claim form: “Despite several visits by family doctors, Molly’s low temperature was not detected. She was grey... and peripherally shut down.”

Dr Robert MacGibbon is being represented by the Medical Defence Union (MDU) but was unable to comment on the case because of confidentiality.

The MDU refused to comment on whether a defence had been submitted, and no papers were available at the court.

The Wensum Valley Medical Practice also said they would not comment.

Ms Bygrave’s solicitor at Rogers and Norton said his client had nothing to add.

This article is courtesy of EDP24.

GP Negligence and finding a reputable personal injury solicitor

Our GP is someone that we trust and rely upon to give us accurate diagnosis when we get sick and the appropriate treatments that will make us get better. Sometimes though, even the most trusted of people can behave negligently. If you have suffered some form or pain or additional injury that was caused by GP negligence, you may need the services of a personal injury solicitor.
 
Where to find a great personal injury solicitor

If you have decided that you have a strong case to make against GP negligence, then the first thing you will obviously need to do is find a good solicitor. That can be easier said than done, as there are a great number of firms out there now who claim to be no win no fee and able to take on any case. It’s not simply a matter of having a solicitor though, it is a matter of having one who really knows what they are doing and provide their clients with a quality service time after time. 

Ideally, you need to have one that has dealt in cases similar to yours before, and hopefully had a positive outcome. You also need to find one that is willing to sit down with you at the very beginning and explain the entire procedure and exactly what is expected of you. Complex cases including GP negligence have a tendency to become drawn out, and there is also the financial side to consider. No win no fee agreements always have terms and conditions so be sure to find out exactly what they are in advance. 


Before you can ask all of these questions and tick off these boxes, you first need to find a firm of personal injury solicitors that deal with GP negligence. Ask around to friends and family for a recommendation or alternatively get online, do some research and see what people have to offer.

Patients 'gambling with their lives' with some GPs

Dr Neil Bacon, who worked in the NHS for nearly 20 years, said a recent report found “significant and unexplained” variation in the quality of services provided by family doctors.

Writing in The Daily Telegraph, he argued: “The NHS’s own “Atlas of Variation” makes it clear that for many common conditions such as diabetes, the care patients receive varies widely, with up to five-fold differences in the rates of amputation or death.

“Patients are literally gambling with their life when they choose which GP to register with.”

He said: “General practice remains one of the last bastions of monopolistic protectionism with no transparency on quality. This does a disservice to the many excellent doctors and nurses in the NHS.”

Dr Bacon’s Friends and Family Test, in which patients are asked if they would recommend the A&E or ward they have just visited, is being rolled out across hospitals in England. 

The Prime Minister is a firm advocate of the project, as is Jeremy Hunt, the Health Secretary. Both believe it will lead to earlier detection of problems - averting scandals like the one that engulfed Stafford hospital - and driving up standards.

Dr Bacon, chief executive of health ratings firm iWantGreatCare, said it was essential to extend the test to primary care, as he thought the variation in quality was even greater among GP practices than it was between hospitals.

He wrote: “Transparency will act like a disinfectant, driving out poor practice and improving standards.”

Once people had a better handle on how good - or bad - their local practice was, that would increase the pressure for them to be able to choose which surgery they attended, he added.

He concluded: “Remember, your doctor chooses very carefully to get the best care for their family. 

Shouldn’t you have the same choice?”

However, Dr Clare Gerada, chairman of the Royal College of GPs, thought was overstating his case. 

She said: “I think he’s wrong. There has been variability but it has been addressed over the last 20 years.

“To say people are risking their lives when they sign up is overly dramatic.”

There were “checks and balances” to ensure GPs were competent, she added.

Dr Gerada also called into question the usefulness of the Friends and Family Test to GP surgeries, saying people were already able to rank their local practice on the NHS Choices website.

This article is courtesy of The Telegraph.

'Better safe than sorry': What doctors told patient after removing his bowel by mistake because blundering staff wrongly said he had cancer

A man who went to his GP with a stomach upset has told how doctors removed part of his bowel after wrongly diagnosing cancer.

James McLeish was left having to wear a colostomy bag and was not even told of the disastrous cancer mistake until he returned to hospital for a check-up.

A surgeon told him: ‘I’ve got some good news for you. You haven’t got cancer after all.’

When the retired bus driver, who had previously enjoyed good health, expressed his astonishment, the consultant said: ‘Better safe than sorry.’

The Mail on Sunday has seen a confidential report which exposes a catalogue of incompetence and failure of leadership at the Queen Alexandra Hospital in Portsmouth, where Mr McLeish was treated.

In one of the most glaring mistakes, the phrase ‘no dysplasia’ – referring to an absence of abnormal cells on an ulcer found in Mr McLeish’s body – was read at a case conference as ‘dysplasia’. The omission of the word ‘no’ led doctors to believe cancer was likely and on that basis they went ahead with the operation.

The document also reveals that:

• A biopsy was wrongly interpreted as showing signs of cancer;
• Surgeons operated without first reading his pathology report, which plays a vital role in cancer diagnosis;
• Consultants were given incomplete medical notes
• Three surgeons had expressed concern about hospital procedures but their complaints were apparently ignored.

Mr McLeish is to receive £60,000 compensation from Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust after his negligence claim was settled out of court.

The sequence of events began when the 69-year-old widower, from Havant, went to his GP after a bout of diarrhoea. He was referred to the Queen Alexandra where he underwent a series of tests and was told that a tumour had been found in his colon.

In November 2011 surgeons removed part of his bowel and he spent two weeks in hospital recovering from the operation, which left him needing to use a colostomy bag.

He moved in with his son and, when he eventually returned home, became a virtual recluse, too embarrassed to see friends and family.

Mr McLeish said: ‘I changed my lifestyle and didn’t see anyone. I would not leave the house as the bag would tend to burst on me. I had to change it at home which made me very sick and it was very inconvenient. I was in good health until all this happened.’

He had another operation to repair the colon and remove the colostomy bag but this still left him with major problems with everyday life.

‘I completely lost my appetite and over a stone in weight. Physically and psychologically I did not feel like myself,’ he said.

It was only when he returned to the Queen Alexandra for a routine check-up that he was told his suffering had been entirely unnecessary because the cancer diagnosis had been wrong.

Trust chief executive Ursula Ward has now written to him, apologising for the substandard care.

Mr McLeish’s solicitor, Paul Crook, of law firm Ross Aldridge, said: ‘As a result of an appalling clinical error Mr McLeish was subjected to extremely invasive and wholly unnecessary surgery.

'While no amount of money will turn the clock back, the settlement does in part recompense him for all the unnecessary pain and suffering he has endured and will continue to live with.’

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, said: ‘Patients deserve to feel confident that their prescribed course of treatment is clinically right.

‘Trusts need to ensure their procedures prevent avoidable surgery which can have devastating long-terms impacts on the quality of patients’ lives.’

This article is courtesy of the Mail Online.
 

Five-year-old girl died from meningitis after doctor said hospital was 'waste of time'

Kelsey Smart saw two GPs in the days before her death, both of whom failed to spot she had contracted the deadly brain condition.

Her parents, Jamie and Hannah Smart, had taken her to see an out-of-hours GP who said she was suffering from a stomach bug, despite a rash on her chin, stomach and legs - telltale symptoms of meningitis.

One GP said he could refer Kelsey to the hospital to be seen but it would only be a "four-hour waste of time".

The schoolgirl, from Kingswood, Gloucestershire, later died in hospital on February 28 last year, the hearing at Avon Coroner's Court heard.

Mrs Smart told the inquest that her daughter was examined by a second GP and she spoke to a third by telephone in the days before she died.

Three hours after her last examination, Kelsey, who was a Year 1 pupil at The Park Primary School, suffered a fit and was admitted to Bristol Children's Hospital but never recovered.

The inquest heard that Kelsey first starting feeling unwell on the night of February 25 and was vomiting hourly throughout the night.

She was also tired, had a temperature and had developed a small pinprick rash on her abdomen and left upper leg.

Mrs Smart said that by the following afternoon Kelsey was still unwell and she called Frendoc - an out of hours GP service based in south Gloucestershire.

A doctor rang back and having spoken to Mrs Smart told her to give Kelsey Dioralyte - a brand of rehydration medication - and to ring back if she could not keep that down.

When she continued to be sick Mrs Smart telephoned again and was told to take Kelsey in.

Mrs Smart and her daughter were seen by locum GP Jens Rohrbeck at Frendoc's clinic at Frenchay Hospital.

"To me Dr Rohrbeck did not seem very interested in Kelsey or her illness. For a lot of the consultation he seemed to be staring at me looking blank as if he didn't know what to do," she told the inquest.

"When I asked him what was wrong with Kelsey he said she had picked up a virus.

"He explained he would send us down to the hospital to be seen but this would be a four-hour waste of time.

"He said it would be better for me to take Kelsey home and if she continued to be sick overnight I should take her to our family GP the next day."

The following morning Mrs Smart rang her doctors' surgery, Orchard Medical Centre in Kingswood, asking for an appointment.

Kelsey and her mother were seen by Dr Sarah Grant.

Mrs Smart said: "While we were in the consultation room she was very agitated and she pulled a clump of hair out of her head.

"Dr Grant did not pass comment on this or suggest it was anything to worry about.

"I again highlighted Kelsey's rash which was still present in the various places on her body.

"Dr Grant prodded the rash with her finger and said it was linked to the virus. She said children often come up in rashes when they have a virus.

"Dr Grant did seem to realise that I was very concerned about Kelsey and she told me to bring Kelsey back at 4pm if there was no change.

"All in all we were in the consultation room for about five minutes."

By lunchtime Mrs Smart thought her daughter was suffering from appendicitis and decided to drive her to hospital.

Kelsey started fitting and Mrs Smart pulled over and called an ambulance and she was rushed to Bristol Children's Hospital.

She was placed on life support but deteriorated and doctors informed Mrs Smart and her husband, a self-employed painter and decorator, that Kelsey was brain dead.

A narrative verdict was recorded by the Avon Coroner Maria Voisin.

Mrs Voisin said she was mindful of both Kelsey's presentation when she was seen by each doctor and the evidence of the two consultants from the children's hospital.

"It is clear from their evidence that earlier intervention is better but what cannot be said is whether earlier treatment would have resulted in a different outcome for Kelsey.

"Neither can we say exactly what would have happened if Kelsey had been admitted sooner.

"So based on the evidence I consider the appropriate verdict to be a narrative verdict."

 This article is courtesy of The Telegraph.

Parents of aspiring midwife, 16, who died after doctor dismissed DVT symptoms considering legal action as inquest clears medics of negligence

A teenager died from undiagnosed deep vein thrombosis just hours after visiting an out-of-hours doctor’s surgery.

Student Shannon Deakin, 16, limped into the surgery with 'knife-like' pains after her left thigh became swollen and turned red.

Newly-qualified locum general practitioner Dr Karim Mohammed diagnosed an infection and gave her antibiotics and anti-inflammatory drugs at the Care UK walk-in centre.

Shannon, of Hoyland in South Yorkshire, was told to see her own GP within 24 or 48 hours and have an ultrasound scan if she was not any better - but she collapsed and died at home about 12 hours later.

After the Sheffield inquest her parents Bryan, 59, and Sue, 44, said they were considering taking legal action against the GP and Care UK.

Mr Deakin said of their only child: 'We don’t think she was given a chance.'

An expert emergency medical consultant Dr Alan Fletcher told the Sheffield hearing if Shannon had been referred to hospital that day she would likely have shown a high score on tests for DVT.

She would have been given an ultrasound scan which would have led to treatment and her chances of survival would have been greatly improved.

But he could not say Shannon, who had 11 GCSEs and was training to be a midwife, would 'more likely than not have survived if she had reached this point in treatment.'

The GP should also have examined Shannon’s calves where swelling is a tell-tale sign of DVT but it was so rare in someone of her age a GP would think it was the least likely option.

Delivering a narrative verdict, coroner Chris Dorries said he had considered whether there was 'culpable human failure' in Shannon’s death or whether it had been 'contributed to by neglect' but he found the appropriate legal criteria were not met.

The inquest heard Shannon had been prescribed the Dianette pill by her GP which is known to increase the chances of developing blood clots.

She had been taking the pill for a month after complaining of acne affecting her back, chest and face but came off it because of side effects just a month before she died on December 4 last year.

The pill was rated as a 'low risk' factor by experts who gave evidence.

A post mortem showed Shannon died from a pulmonary embolism caused by a blood clot moving from her leg through her heart towards her lungs which pathologist Dr Mudher Al-Adnani said was 'extremely rare' in one so young.

Dr Mohammed, who was on-call at the clinic based in Barnsley Hospital, said she came in complaining of a pain in the left side of her abdomen radiating to her groin.

During a ten-minute consultation he noted a large, warm patch of redness on the front of her left thigh.

Because of her brief period on the pill and a lack of negative family history he did not ask any further questions and excluded DVT from his diagnosis. 'I explained it was highly unlikely that it was a clot and my findings were more of an infection or muscular pain,' he said.

But Shannon’s mother Susan, 43, who accompanied her daughter, told the inquest Dr Mohammed failed to notice her daughter’s swollen left foot and she left 'walking on the back of her pump'. The doctor told her: 'It’s either a blood clot or an infection.'

Shannon even texted her cousin four hours after the consultation with the same message and a later text read 'moving a tiny amount kills'. Just 12 hours later she collapsed on the settee at the family’s home.

GP expert Dr James Gray said the locum’s assessment was 'reasonable' but it may have been prudent for him to arrange an ultrasound scan and he did not pick up on Shannon’s swollen foot which could have raised suspicions of a blood clot in the lower leg.

He remained 'unconvinced' the GP had looked into all the risk factors associated with DVT.

Mr Dorries’ conclusion read: 'Shannon Deakin died in consequence of an undiagnosed DVT.

'Shannon had sought medical assistance at lunchtime the previous day and whilst there are unresolved conflicts of evidence about that consultation it cannot be said, even at its highest, that the examination and assessment amounted to gross failure.

'Furthermore, even if diagnosed at that time it cannot be said that a referral to hospital would more likely than not have saved Shannon’s life.'

After the hearing Mrs Deakin said: 'We took the GP at his word. Things could definitely have been done more differently and Shannon might have stood a chance.

'We haven’t a clue how she got DVT. I kept asking her if she had suffered a fall or a bump but she said not. It is a complete mystery.'

Mr Deakin said: 'She was perfectly fine three days earlier. It just came on so quickly. Since her death it has been a total living nightmare. The day Shannon died we died.'

This article is courtesy of the Daily Mail.

Family sues out-of-hours GP provider and nurse over death liability

The family of a young woman is suing the country's biggest out-of-hours GP provider and one of its nurses, whose failures meant her fatal condition was not diagnosed, because neither will accept liability in a test case over legal responsibility in a privatised NHS.

Clare Secker, 19, died of bronchopneumonia in December 2008 after a nurse working for the privately-run telephone service told her parents to give her paracetamol and fluids.

Earlier this year the nurse admitted through her lawyers that she had been "in breach of her duty by failing to arrange for [Secker] to be seen by a doctor". If the young mother, who died when her son Tyler was less than a year old, had been prescribed antibiotics she would have recovered fully.

Despite this neither the firm, which was part of the Harmoni out-of-hours service until it was bought by Care UK in November 2012, nor the nurse has offered compensation to the family.

The nurse claims she does not need to pay out as her employment contract specifically states that the company had insurance in place "to indemnify … for any claim arising from any wrongful act committed by … any employee while carrying out their contractual obligations". But Harmoni says its insurance excludes responsibility for negligence by nurses.

With the Health and Social Care Act 2012 leading to more NHS contracts going to private providers, lawyers are concerned that the fragmented system will lead to a loss of accountability.

The legal wrangle became so protracted that for three years the family could not afford the £1,200 to inter their daughter's ashes. Michael Secker said he wanted this to be "sorted for my daughter Clare and my grandson Tyler".

He added: "We are forced to go to court and keep reliving what happened. We can't believe no one will take responsibility, even though they were at fault and it shouldn't have happened and Clare should be with us now."

The family, who live in Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, is claiming damages of £250,000, saying the sum will help secure Tyler's future. "It's so hard, especially at this time of year. It's nearly four years now and we know we can't ever have our Clare back and Tyler won't have his mum, but we just want it all to be sorted so we can just get on with bringing Tyler up and not having to relive this nightmare over and over again," Michael Secker added.

The family's lawyer, Sandra Patton, head of medical injury at Ashton KCJ solicitors, said: "This has been a horrendous ordeal for the family, and for those responsible to now argue in front of them about who is legally accountable is unacceptable and cruel."

Patton pointed out that if a patient is hurt or dies as a result of NHS care then the health service assumes responsibility, making payouts from a state-backed insurer called the NHS Litigation Authority. She added: "As NHS services are increasingly provided by private companies, this is going to happen more and more, unless something is done to establish a clear line of accountability.

"It cannot be right that patients no longer know who is actually providing their care, or for those who are harmed to have the additional stress of providers trying to dodge responsibility by pointing to a clause in a contract or insurance policy. Until something disastrous happens we, the public, think we are still within the safety net of the NHS and increasingly that's just not the case. There is little transparency or protection, it seems to me."

The local NHS that contracted out the service, NHS Norfolk and Waveney, says it expects the private firm to be insured. A spokesperson said: "We have every sympathy with the family involved in this case. Although the PCT funds the healthcare received by its local population, in the rare and unfortunate event that things go wrong, it is the provider of that care that will be responsible for paying any damages in the event that liability to do so is established."

The company had been owned by Take Care Now in 2008, before being sold to Harmoni. It is now part of Care UK.

A spokesperson for Care UK, which now owns the firm, said: "The company is very keen to see resolution of what is clearly a complex case, which has caused great distress to the Secker family. We urgently want to work with the other parties involved, including all the relevant insurers, to get the right solution for everyone as quickly as possible."

This article is courtesy of theguardian.