Use of overseas GPs for out-of-hours care 'must be reviewed'

Professor Steve Field, chair of the Royal College of General Practitioners, said the college was worried about the quality of out-of-hours care provided for patients in some parts of the country.

He said: “It is the responsibility of primary care organisations to ensure that patients receive good quality care by commissioning appropriate services. This is obviously not working and something needs to be done.

“We believe a radical review of out of hours and weekend care is needed,” he said.

His comments follow the recent case of a 70-year old man in Cambridgeshire who was accidentally killed by an overdose of painkillers delivered by a GP from Germany on his first shift in the UK.

Professor Field added: “I am particularly worried about the use of doctors from Europe flying in to provide out of hours care and then flying back to their home countries to provide services there.

“Doctors from Europe who come to the UK to work in out of hours services must prove they are of the same quality as our home-grown doctors. We are not convinced there are appropriate checks in place to ensure they are,” he said.

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