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GMC to Regulate Medical Associate Professions (MAPs)
In July 2019, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC), asked the GMC to regulate two groups of medical associate professions (MAPs), the physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs). These changes are dependent on new legislation, the AA and PA Order 2024, which was approved by the House of Commons this January. The statutory instrument (SI) will establish the GMC as the statutory regulator for PAs, meaning they set out the standards for their practice, education and training and operate fitness-to-practice procedures.
The GMC is currently designing the processes and policies needed to make regulation possible and will consult on these this year, expecting regulation to begin before the end of 2024.
The BMA and the RCP (Edinburgh), among other bodies, have both expressed concern over the ways in which Medical Associate Professions (MAPs) are being integrated into healthcare services.
A BMA survey of members highlighted widespread professional concerns with 87% of the 18,182 doctors who took part in the survey reporting that the way AAs and PAs currently work in the NHS was always or sometimes a risk to patient safety and the same proportion felt patients were not aware of the difference between MAPs and doctors.
Read more:
https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2024/9780348255195/contents
https://www.bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/bma-statement-responding-to-the-royal-college-of-physicians-of-edinburgh-stance-on-maps
Award-Winning Patient Charity Launches New Aortic Dissection Website
Aortic Dissection Awareness UK & Ireland, named the UK's Best Specialist Patient Support Charity 2023 in the international Non-Profit Organisation Awards, has launched a brand-new website designed by a team of patients, relatives and healthcare professionals, all active members of the charity.
The charity’s impact report was published in December, highlighting how the charity aims to continue to:
Support Patients – Save Lives – Improve Care – Enable Research
Read more: https://aorticdissectionawareness.org/
Football Brain Injuries Case at High Court
Brain injury claims brought by former footballers, including the family of England World Cup winner Nobby Stiles, reached The High Court this January. The claimants allege they were harmed by heading the ball repeatedly during their professional careers.
Mr Stiles died in October 2020, aged 78, after suffered from dementia and was found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a progressive brain condition caused by repeated blows to the head.
The case could include up to 70 claims against the International Football Association Board, the Football Association, the Football League Limited, and the Football Association of Wales, and follows similar group litigation against World Rugby Limited and others.
Read more: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/first-high-court-hearing-in-nobby-stiles-brain-injury-claim/5118431.article
Secondary Victims in Medical Negligence Claims: Paul (and others) v Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust (and others) [2024] UKSC 1
In this landmark group action, the claimants sought compensation for psychiatric injuries after witnessing the death of close family members following the negligent failure of the defendants to treat or diagnose life-threatening conditions.
The claims failed, the decisions were appealed and reached to the Supreme Court, where the appeals were all dismissed. The court held that a negligent failure to treat or diagnose an illness did not constitute an “accident”.
An accident being defined as “an unexpected and unintended event which caused injury (or a risk of injury) by violent external means to one or more primary victims.”
The court observed that:
“In medical negligence cases the event (or its aftermath) witnessed by the secondary victim is generally not an accident; it is the suffering or death of their relative from illness. As a shorthand and without intending it to be a term of art, we will refer to such an event as a medical crisis.”
The majority decision means that in virtually all circumstances of medical negligence it will not be possible for loved ones to bring a secondary victim claim for psychiatric injury.
Read more: https://www.supremecourt.uk/cases/docs/uksc-2022-0038-0044-0049-judgment.pdf
Should Patient Deaths be Excluded from new Fixed Costs Regime?
The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) has urged the Government to remove all fatal cases from the forthcoming fixed costs scheme for lower-value clinical negligence claims.
“Any case in which a patient has died at the hands of the NHS needs more time and greater sensitivity than is afforded by the new regime,” said Guy Forster, executive committee member of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).
Stillbirths and newborn deaths are already excluded from the new scheme of fixed recoverable costs for claims valued at up to £25,000, which comes into effect on 1 April.
“It makes no sense to us, for example, why the death of a toddler with meningitis might fall within the scope of fixed costs when a neonatal death is excluded. All bereavements must be treated with the same sensitivity and compassion,” said Guy Forster, executive committee member of APIL.
“It is within the Government’s power to act now, delay the reforms, and amend the rules."
Read more: https://www.apil.org.uk/press-release/Patient-deaths-must-be-excluded-from-fixed-costs-regime
New GMC Guidance: Using Social Media as a Medical Professional
The GMC published new guidance for doctors using social media in December 2023, which will come into effect on 30 January 2024. The full guidance can be accessed below but the following extract is a good summary of its intentions.
“Communicating as a medical professional
All professional communication
88 You must be honest and trustworthy, and maintain patient confidentiality in all your professional written, verbal and digital communications.
89 You must make sure any information you communicate as a medical professional is accurate, not false or misleading. This means:
a. you must take reasonable steps to check the information is accurate
b. you must not deliberately leave out relevant information
c. you must not minimise or trivialise risks of harm
d. you must not present opinion as established fact”
The GMC suggests that “the new guidance should be read alongside Good medical practice, and the more detailed guidance that supports it”.
Read more: https://www.gmc-uk.org/-/media/gmc-site/ethical-guidance/mdg-2023/using-social-media-as-a-medical-professional-english.pdf
https://www.gmc-uk.org/professional-standards/good-medical-practice-2024/get-to-know-good-medical-practice-2024
GMC Workforce Report 2023
The GMC published its Workforce Report in November summarising “The state of medical education and practice in the UK 2023”.
The report highlights that numbers of practising medical professionals in the UK will not improve in the foreseeable future, stating in the opening point of the Executive Summary, “Even with the expansion of medical school places, continuing to attract skilled and experienced international medical graduates will be crucial”.
And, from the Doctors leaving the UK workforce section,
“We are also aware from The state of medical education and practice in the UK: workplace experiences 2023 report that an increasing proportion of doctors reported taking hard steps towards leaving the profession and there could be higher leaving rates observed in the coming months and years. We may have a limited time to ramp up initiatives to improve retention before dissatisfaction translates into higher proportions of doctors leaving the UK’s healthcare systems altogether”.
Read more: https://www.gmc-uk.org/about/what-we-do-and-why/data-and-research/the-state-of-medical-education-and-practice-in-the-uk
Prescription Drugs sold by Online Pharmacies without Robust Checks
Highlighting the death of young woman who accidentally overdosed on medication she bought online in 2020, a BBC investigation into safety checks online pharmacies carry out when selling prescription-only medicines, has found many of them still fall short.
BBC researchers posing as online customers found evidence of high-risk and potentially addictive medicines, including benzodiazepines and antidepressants, being sold on the basis of online questionnaires, without further checks such as proof of previous prescription by a doctor, or permission to contact the customer’s GP.
Guidance for registered pharmacies providing pharmacy services at a distance, including on the internet, is provided by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), and was updated in 2022, but it has been described as too vague, and not stating clearly enough which checks online pharmacies should be conducting.
Read more: https://www.pharmacyregulation.org/news/bbc-news-investigation-safety-checks-online-pharmacies-carry-out-when-selling-prescription-only
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