After hearing the latest news of a german doctor called Dr Ubani I couldnt help but feel concerned and destressed about the position the NHS is finding itself in with the use of Locum consultants and agency staff.

Dr Ubani, travelled to the UK to work the ‘out of hours’ service, during his call out he wrongly treated the patient, which disasterously lead to the death of the victim. Dr Ubani gave a dangerous dosage of diamorphine to the patient, apparently a dosage that could only have been survived by somebody who was either a drug addict or someone used to a regular intake of painkillers. Within hours the victim had died.

Other concerns raised during this sad event included the language barrier between Dr Ubani and the patient, the unfamiliarisation that Dr Ubani had with diamorphine due to the limited use of the drug back in Germany where he typically practiced, the apparent neglect and almost dismissal of a perscription drug list of the patient before treating with diamorphine, the fact that Dr Ubani had only flown into the country the day before.

This in my eyes causes great concern for the NHS, we need better unity in training methods for oversea’s doctors, it is imperitive that these doctors undergo similar practice or the relevant training to ensure familiarisation with the NHS and its methods. It reminds me of a course that Medicology Ltd used to run that was to ensure correct training for implimenting doctors from overseas. In the light of all this are training regulations slipping?

Medicology Ltd hosted an EWTD (european working time directive) conference last year which described the risks that doctors can put themselves in through being over worked. But what about Dr Ubani, for him to only have flown in the day before his shift, tiredness, concentration, etc were these all factors that lead to his negative decision making or does the issue span greater than this? personally I beleive so. Is the issue the lack of training?, the conflict of different / european health systems and its practices?

Where does this leave us, more regulations? the big question over the implimentation of overseas doctors working out of hours services? the risk of mixing different health systems and practices?

For those who may be interested, Medicology Ltd offer very comprehensive training for doctors and medical staff of all grades broadly covering Leadership, Management and Personal Development skills, also including Clinical Governance and the ‘Modern NHS’, the current situation, how we work with it and progress with it as it continues to evolve…..