Cutting junior doctor’s hours does not compromise patients’ safety and could dramatically reduce mistakes, according to research by the University of Warwick Medical School.

The intervention study, the first in the UK and Europe, looked at the impact of a 48 hour EWTD compliant rota on medical errors and patients' safety over a 12 week period. It found that those on shorter rotas benefited from longer sleep time - 7.26 hours per day compared with 6.75 hours a day on a normal rota – and produced a third (32.7%) fewer medical errors.

Half of the public fear there will be charges for some NHS services within 10 years according to a poll by the BMA. The majority (93%) of the 1000 questionned agree that the NHS should remain free however just 42 percent believe that changes to the NHS in the past decade have succeeded. Commercial companies providing NHS services were opposed by 51 percent of respondents.

 www.bma.org.uk

Recently, the mother of Katie - a 15-year-old girl suffering from a severe form of cerebral palsy - asked doctors to remove the girl's uterus to prevent her from menstruating.  Is this ethical? 

Harold Shipman (1946 – 2004)
Killed - Approx 250

GP Shipman was convicted in 2000 and initially sentenced to 15 consecutive life sentences. However, he only served four years, and was found hanged in his cell on the 13th January, 2004. An official inquiry after his death concluded that he had probably killed around 250 people, with 218 of those ‘positively identified’.