Hundreds of foreign doctors working in Britain have not been checked for language skills or competency, according to recently obtained figures.  Despite widespread outrage over the case of a German doctor with poor English, whose actions led to the death of a pensioner, less than 1 in 4 foreign doctors are currently being properly verified, according to a Freedom of Information Request.

The investigation that was undertaken by Pulse, a newspaper for GP’s, also found that many NHS Trusts in England have no accurate record about whether or not the doctor has been checked.

NHS Trusts need to ensure that overseas doctors who come to work in the UK are fully equipped with the skills that they need to provide the right level of care.

Today’s survey of more than 100 Primary Care Trusts show hundreds of foreign doctors are included on “performance lists” without having been fully checked.

More than two thirds of NHS Trusts admitted that they did not collect data on whether doctors had been checked.

Niall Dixon, Chief Executive of the General Medical Council said: “The Pulse survey appears to show willing failings in the system of employers’ checks, which could put patients at risk”.

Rachel Donovan, one of the specialist Solicitors in the clinical negligence team at John Pickering and Partners said: “I am horrified by the result of this survey produced by Pulse’s latest research and it is worrying to think that in more than two thirds of Trusts no data is being collected about whether the skills levels of these doctors have been checked.  We have dealt with many cases relating to the care provided by foreign doctors which have led to devastating mistakes, impacting victims and their families.  Lessons now need to be learned from this report”.

If you want to talk to a specialist solicitor about this or any related matter please contact Rachel Donovan at our Liverpool office (don@johnpickering.co.uk), Claire Horton at our Manchester office (hort@johnpickering.co.uk) or Ruth Davies at our Halifax office (rd@johnpickering.co.uk) .

ABOUT JOHN PICKERING AND PARTNERS LLP

Our clients are people who have suffered injury as a result of a medical accident in the UK.  We are Clinical and Medical Negligence Solicitors.  We handle negligence claims against hospitals, GP’s and other medical practitioners for clients across the UK. 

We try to obtain maximum amounts of compensation. 

We are committed to providing public funding (previously known as Legal Aid) and have a franchise from the Community Legal Services Commission.  This means that they have looked at the firm carefully and approved of the way we work.  They consider that we are medical negligence claims specialists.  They trust us to handle medical accident claims properly. 

If you are not eligible for Public Funding, we can offer a Conditional Fee Agreement, also known as a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement with insurance.  We shall check the best method of funding your claim. 

All 3 of our offices (Liverpool, Manchester and Halifax) are accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. 

Claire Horton is an experienced Clinical Negligence Solicitor who is based in our Manchester office.  She continues to practice as an independent funding adjudicator for the Legal Services Commission and acts on a pro-bono basis for the AvMA helpline.

For further advice on medical negligence in Liverpool please contact Rachel Donovan and for Halifax contact Ruth Davies, who are both experienced in the field of Clinical Negligence.

We provide free initial advice to people seeking information about a potential Clinical Negligence claim.