Panorama Reveals That A High Number Of Invited Medical Reports Were Not Published Or Shared With Regulators

BBC Panorama has reported that serious patient safety issues have been hidden in dozens of secret hospital reports written by expert groups of doctors, investigating patient safety problems.

Following a number of Freedom of Information requests sent to every NHS Trust and health board in the UK, it has been revealed that medical royal colleges were asked to carry out 111 “invited reviews” over the last five years, but only 16 reports were published in the public domain. It was also been revealed by Panorama that out of the 80 reports that:

• Only 26 of them had been shared in full with NHS regulators, such as the Care Quality Commission (CQC), who oversee standards of medical care;
• In 22 cases, the regulator was only aware of the report or had only seen part of it; and
• 65 of the reports contained potential or actual patient safety concerns.

However, the Royal Colleges has told Panorama that they had carried out about 260 “invited reviews” during this five year period.

The Chair of the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, Prof Helen Stokes-Lampard, has reportedly told Panorama that she was “dismayed” that these reports were not being released to the public. Adding:

Direct breach of the NHS’s duty of candour and the Morecambe Bay maternity scandal

These actions appear to be a direct breach of the NHS’s duty of candour, which is a statutory obligation for medical practitioners and NHS Trusts to be open and honest with their patients, or their families when something goes wrong with their medical care that may have caused or could lead to significant harm in the future. NHS Trusts are meant to release summaries of external reviews and share them with regulators.

This duty was introduced in 2015, following the Morecambe Bay maternity scandal, when 11 babies and a mother died. A previous review of the hospital had highlighted concerns but had not been released to the public.

Royal Liverpool University Hospital

The Panorama episode, which aired last night (Wednesday, 19^th May 2021), also disclosed that back in 2015, the Royal College of Physicians undertook a review of Royal Liverpool University Hospital’s treatment of patients with vasculitis – an autoimmune disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of blood vessels – over the previous two years.

Freedom of Information requests showed that there were 400 patients under the care of the unit during this period of time. However, 18 months after the review had been commenced, less than a quarter had been checked.

Out of a group of 26 patients, who were all prescribed powerful medications, two patients were reported to have been given the medication “inappropriately”, four patients were given “possibly excessive” doses and three patients had died whilst suffering from side effects of the medications.

According to Panorama, it has seen emails sent by the Royal College of Physicians stating that it would inform the CQC if the review wasn’t completed, but this did not happen. The CQC was never provided with the review, nor were they made aware of any concerns about the medical care being provided. The CQC were only aware that a review had taken place. The CQC does not have the legal authority to make NHS Trusts share reports with them or make Trusts implement recommendations.