‘She had every red flag for lung cancer, but the nurse practitioner blamed statins’: UK alarm over doctor substitution
The British Medical Association has published alarming accounts by doctors of alleged patient harm involving nurses and pharmacists.
The British Medical Association has unveiled hundreds of accounts of missed diagnoses, delayed care and other patient safety incidents involving so-called advanced practitioners.
These are the nurses, pharmacists, physiotherapists and paramedics who it says are increasingly being used to substitute doctors in the country’s hospitals and GP clinics.
The report comes after it lodged a freedom of information request that found almost half of NHS hospitals were using these healthcare professionals on medical rosters.
The accounts are from doctors who submitted concerns through a dedicated British Medical Association reporting portal — they remain allegations and have not been independently verified.
