Thank you for the opportunity to speak to the Select Committee. I have a number of points to make, which I hope are of some help.

  1.  The availability of information for victims of adverse medical incidents is, sadly, negligible. Patients are usually so distressed that the last thing they think about is seeking advice, so I would suggest a system be set up, ie through leaflet or help-line numbers, situated in Post Office's, doctors surgery's, hospital waiting rooms or by the GPO through door to door deliveries with the normal mail, Citizen Advice Bureaus etc, and of course the media publicity.

  2.  In these days of computers, a central WWS to outlaw disgraced consultants, GP's and hospitals who fail their patients and even areas of the country where medical care falls short of the rest of the country. I feel this would be very easy to implement.

  3.  A three monthly review of doctors, consultants and surgeons skills and knowledge should be conducted by an independent body, on their competence and up-dating of new techniques in medicine.

  4.  A thorough scrutiny of doctors credentials before being employed in any NHS or private practice and any adverse findings be added to the central computer WWS.

6 July 1999