Mills & Reeve represented Cambridgeshire Primary Care Trust (“CPCT”) at the recent inquest into the deaths of David Gray and Iris Edwards. In the Coroner’s “Summing up, Decisions and Announcements” he made a number of recommendations to the Secretary of State for Health under Rule 43 of the Coroners Rules 1984. These recommendations impact on both PCT contracts with Out of Hours providers and PCT management of Medical Performers Lists.
In advance of the Secretary of State for Health issuing guidance or any other arrangements put in place at local SHA level, PCTs may wish to review:
- their contracts with OOH providers to ensure that their contractual obligations are sufficiently robust to guard against any recurrence of the tragic incidents that led to the deaths of these two patients; and
- their procedures and processes for managing applications to join their Medical Performers Lists.
Please see the attached briefing for further information.