NHS safeguards 'not witch-hunt'

The Shipman killings prompted the NHS initiative

Doctors have welcomed NHS plans to introduce an early warning system to alert the authorities to cases like that of the serial killer GP Harold Shipman.

But the British Medical Association denied the safeguards were not a witch-hunt to "catch" dangerous doctors.

"Ninety-nine times out of 100 when things are going wrong its not because there are bad doctors in place, its because things are letting them down," Dr Mac Armstrong told BBC News 24.

"This is just simply good risk management."

The proposal comes from the Chief Medical Officer, Liam Donaldson and the Health Secretary, Alan Milburn, has agreed to implement it.

An early warning system will set the alarm bells ringing

Alan Milburn

Mr Milburn said a new medical incident reporting system would spot developing problems earlier, like those involving the Kent gynaecologist Rodney Ledward.

"If you look at these dreadful cases, these terrible things done to patients, it was often gossiped about in the hospital first," Mr Milburn told the BBC's On The Record.

"This isn't good enough."

Under the scheme, NHS staff would be encouraged to report unusual events such as patients dying in strange circumstances or "near misses" which could have harmed patients.

Independent inspectors working for the Commission for Health Improvement would investigate problem cases and watch for patterns of poor performance.

Mr Milburn said the system would be effective in alerting health chiefs to developing problems.

NHS staff will be encouraged to report 'incidents'

Writing in The News of the World, he said: "An early warning system will set the alarm bells ringing.

"Without it in place, it is not surprising they failed to ring in Shipman's case."

Mr Milburn said Britain had some of the finest doctors in the world but he would not "stand idly by and let bad practice among a few doctors tarnish the reputation of the whole medical profession".

But shadow health secretary Liam Fox said the proposals were the "worst of all worlds".

He said: "They will alarm doctors, who will fear that whistle-blowing and finger-pointing will be the new culture of Labour's NHS, rather than any logical and considered appraisal of their activity.

"As ever with any of Alan Milburn's headline-grabbing stunts, we have no details of how any such system would operate."

He said the plan was merely an attempt by the government to provide a smokescreen for its own failings.

Alan Milburn said system would spot developing problems

The announcement follows a government report that criticised the failure of health managers to act against Kent gynaecologist Rodney Ledward, who worked for years before being struck off.

Mr Ledward has denied claims that he was responsible for the deaths of six patients.

Almost 200 patients have filed claims against him.

Harold Shipman became the UK's worst mass murderer in January when he was convicted of killing 15 patients with morphine injections.

Police fear the Greater Manchester doctor may have killed up to 192 people.

The health secretary's newspaper article said patients rarely died in family surgeries, adding: "Five people died in Harold Shipman's surgery."

He said the new early warning system would have made a difference in "many of the worst cases".