MPs want to close loopholes in NHS complaints procedures

BMJ 1998;317:164 ( 18 July )

News

MPs want to close loopholes in NHS complaints procedures

John Warden, parliamentary correspondent, BMJ

MPs are considering ways to close loopholes in the NHS complaints procedures after the scandal over the deaths of 29 babies who had undergone heart surgery at Bristol Royal Infirmary.

When the select committee on public administration learned that the health service ombudsman had no powers to intervene in such a situation, the committee's chairman, Rhodri Morgan, proposed a system that could have alerted the Bristol parents sooner. He suggested that, in future, parents should have the right to know whether other professionals have complained about a surgeon before operations are performed. The failure of a hospital to inform parents would amount to maladministration, which could be investigated by the ombudsman.

In Bristol this could have exposed problems raised by the anaesthetist, Dr Stephen Bolsin, before the 29 children died. A consultant surgeon, James Wisheart, and the hospital's former chief executive, Dr . . . [Full text of this article]

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