Medical community and MPs react to deaths caused by inept foreign doctors

Apr 8 2010

By Candy Lashkari

German doctor Daniel Ubani accidentally killed patient David Gray on his first UK shift as an out-of-hours locum GP. The death of the man aged 70 occurred from an overdose of diamorphine administered by Ubani whose poor English skills are being blamed. This has lead to a strong reaction from the local medical community and the MPs.

Kevin Barron, the health committee chair, said: "It is tragic that it takes the death of a patient to expose the serious failings now evident in the current system for checking language and competence skills of overseas doctors. Everything possible must be done as soon as possible to ensure another life is not lost in this way.”

It was further brought to light that Dr Ubani’s poor language skills in English had caused him to be refused work in Leeds by the NHS, but he was later accepted in Cornwall and then he went on to work in Cambridgeshire. The death of David Gray in February has brought the arbitrary selection process into the limelight.

Ironically Stuart Gray, a GP and one of David Gray's four sons, said: "When we brought this up with ministers last week, although they said the PCT is legally responsible, they did not have an answer about what do when PCTs breached the law.They are looking to make NHS managers personally legally liable but again could not state what 'punishment' would be meted out."

Steve Field, chairman of the Royal College of GPs supported "the need for urgent action to ensure PCTs and providers of care are working to current regulations. The evidence was many were not. We have to ensure PCTs do what they are meant to do. The evidence was that quality assurance of PCTs by strategic health authorities was not very good either."

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said "Doctors from outside the UK make a significant contribution to healthcare in this country but patient safety must always take priority over the free movement of labour."

Committee chairman Kevin Barron also brought out the question about the UK's interpretation of the rules. The GMC believes regulators in other parts of Europe are still carrying out language checks. The MPs said the issue was particularly pressing as GPs in the UK tended to have much more responsibility than their European counterparts.

According to the Department of Health spokesperson, there were already changes being made to the regime. NHS trusts had been reminded of their obligation to assess the doctors who they chose to hire. Out of hours care was handled by organizations who would be facing tougher regulations in the future.