Doctors Prescribing terminal drugs for patient's they have never met

Doncaster Primary Care Trust (PCT) did not have the information requested.

Dear Doncaster Primary Care Trust (PCT),

how many complaints were made regarding

1. Danum Doctors Services Limited from 1st April 2004 to end.

2. How many complaints were received by Doncaster NHS about Dr. Kevin Lee of Balby?

3. How many complaints have been upheld, i.e. the public have a happy resolution?

4. How many complaints have been ignored? i.e the public have been disappointed?

5. How many doctors in Doncaster prescribe terminal drugs for patients without ever seeing the patient first?

6. Do Doncaster NHS PCT have a regulation as to when and if terminal drugs are administered?

7. Can Doncaster Doctors give instructions to nurses to administer terminal drugs without seeing the patient first?

8. What safeguards are in place to stop GP's Doctors prescribing end of life drugs for patient without first checking the patient?

9. Is the Chairman of the NHS PCT responsible for actions the GP's the NHS employ?

10 How much have legal fees cost Doncaster NHS PCT for 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011?

Yours faithfully,

Linda Kirby

FOI Doncaster PCT, Doncaster Primary Care Trust (PCT)

2 Attachments

Dear Ms Kirby,

 

Thank you for your request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000.

 

We will respond to you within 20 working days.

 

Kind regards,

 

FOI Coordinator

NHS Doncaster

E-mail: [1][email address]

 

The information contained in this email may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  Unless the
information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this
email and your reply cannot be guaranteed.  This email and any files
transmitted with it are confidential.  If you are not the intended
recipient, any reading, printing, storage, disclosure or copying or any
other action taken in respect of this email is prohibited and may be
unlawful.  If you are not the intended recipient, please would you notify
me immediately by using the reply function and then permanently delete
what you have received.  Thank you for your cooperation.

 

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FOI Doncaster PCT, Doncaster Primary Care Trust (PCT)

Dear Ms Kirby,

 

Following your recent request for information under the Freedom of
Information Act 2000, please see below the responses to your questions.

 

 

1. How many complaints were made regarding Danum Doctors Services Limited
from 1st April 2004 to end.

As the requested information in part relates to a private company, NHS
Doncaster does not hold this information. Danum Doctors Limited did not
exist from April 2004 and became part of Doncaster East PCT which did not
exist from October 2006.  Since that time the service has transferred to
Doncaster & Bassetlaw Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

 

2. How many complaints were received by Doncaster NHS about Dr. Kevin Lee
of Balby?

NHS Doncaster considers this information to be exempt due to Section 40(2)
of the Freedom of Information Act - personal information related to an
individual and relates to a vexatious complaint on which, as previously
advised, we will not respond to questions.

 

3. How many complaints have been upheld, i.e. the public have a happy
resolution?

The PCT’s Annual Report and Complaints Reports to the Trust Board are
public documents and are available on the website. These documents contain
the relevant information. As above, NHS Doncaster considers information on
the above named Doctor to be exempt due to Section 40(2) of the Freedom of
Information Act - personal information related to an individual.

 

4. How many complaints have been ignored? i.e the public have been
disappointed?

No complaints are ignored by NHS Doncaster. All are responded to according
to our policy in place at the time of receipt of the request. Also see
answer above.

    

5. How many doctors in Doncaster prescribe terminal drugs for patients
without ever seeing the patient first?

“Terminal drugs” is not a term we recognise. Drugs are prescribed by
General Practitioners in terminal care e.g. for pain and other symptom
relief as clinically indicated. Prescribing practice is governed by
guidance from the Royal College of General Practitioners and by
professional codes of conduct. In addition, in Doncaster prescribing
advice relating to palliative care is available to General Practitioners
from Palliative Care consultants at the Hospice. NHS Doncaster’s medicines
management website provides information on any prescribing information
issued by NHS Doncaster.
[1]http://medicinesmanagement.doncasterpct.... NHS Doncaster
therefore does not hold the requested information.

 

6. Do Doncaster NHS PCT have a regulation as to when and if terminal drugs
are administered?

No - NHS Doncaster does not directly employ General Practitioners.

 

7. Can Doncaster Doctors give instructions to nurses to administer
terminal drugs without seeing the patient first?

NHS Doncaster does not hold the requested information. Please see answer
to Question 5 and Question 6 above.

    

8. What safeguards are in place to stop GP's Doctors prescribing end of
life drugs for patient without first checking the patient?

NHS Doncaster does not hold the requested information. Please see answer
to Question 5 and Question 6 above.

Safeguards in place regarding prescribing include:

·         Monitoring of Controlled Drugs – exceptional usage.

·         Monitoring of prescribing patterns.

    

9. Is the Chairman of the NHS PCT responsible for actions the GP's the NHS
employ?

General Practitioners in the community are not employed by NHS Doncaster,
and therefore the Chairman of NHS Doncaster is not responsible for their
action. For any GPs who are directly employed by the PCT e.g. Medical
Director, this is applicable.

 

10. How much have legal fees cost Doncaster NHS PCT for 2004, 2005, 2006,
2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011?

These legal fees reflect all legal spend, not just related to complaints.

Legal costs

 

Financial Year 2006/07 2007/08 2008/09 2009/10 2010/11
  £ £ £ £ £
Legal Costs 66,601.22 220,181.47 390,997.00 369,508.96 140,859.94
           

 

2011/12 data will be available after the close of the annual accounts due
June 2012. NHS Doncaster therefore considers 2011/12 data to be exempt
under Section 22 of the Freedom of Information Act – information intended
for future publication. NHS Doncaster does not hold information prior to
2006/7 when we became a single Trust.

 

 

We trust the information provided is helpful.

 

If you are unhappy with the service you have received in relation to your
request and wish to make a complaint or request a review of our decision,
you should write to:

Head of Client Liaison

NHS Doncaster

White Rose House

Ten Pound Walk

Doncaster

DN4 5DJ

 

If you are not content with the outcome of your complaint, you may apply
directly to the Information Commissioner for a decision. Generally, the
Information Commissioner cannot make a decision unless you have exhausted
the complaints procedure provided by NHS Doncaster. The Information
Commissioner can be contacted at: The Information Commissioner’s Office,
Wycliffe House, Water Lane, Wilmslow, Cheshire, SK9 5AF.

 

Kind regards,

 

FOI Coordinator

NHS Doncaster

E-mail: [2][email address]

 

The information contained in this email may be subject to public
disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000.  Unless the
information is legally exempt from disclosure, the confidentiality of this
email and your reply cannot be guaranteed.  This email and any files
transmitted with it are confidential.  If you are not the intended
recipient, any reading, printing, storage, disclosure or copying or any
other action taken in respect of this email is prohibited and may be
unlawful.  If you are not the intended recipient, please would you notify
me immediately by using the reply function and then permanently delete
what you have received.  Thank you for your cooperation.

 

 

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Linda Kirby left an annotation ()

So if Doncaster NHS don't have complaints regarding on call doctors services then who does and who checks what these on call doctors are doing. They are also employed by the NHS.

This doesn't make sense. It's obviously done deliberately, no one has to take the responsibility then