Out Of Hours Medical Care

9.59.48pm GMT Thu 4th Feb 2010

The Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, Norman Lamb said today:

"The tragic death of David Gray raises serious concerns about the safety of out-of -hours care in this country."

We propose that

(1) A national language and competence test for every doctor wishing to work in the UK,

(2) A suspension in one country should be effective everywhere across the European Economic Area and (3) It should be a criminal offence for a PCT to allow a doctor to operate without ensuring compliance with the regulations.

Our local Parliamentary Candidate, Nigel Jones says: "It is scandalous that the out of hours medical system is so lax about who carries out the duties; our overreliance on unchecked overworked and tired overseas doctors is not acceptable. This is yet another example of the present government's lack of sense in the way they manage our national organisations. They interfere in day to day management by constant change, unnecessary targets and paper work, yet they cannot make sensible policy which ensures the right people are in place to do the right jobs."