The senior judge behind the Shipman inquiry is ‘disappointed’ key recommendations from her report have not been introduced.
Dame Janet Smith was in charge of an investigation into Harold Shipman, the Hyde GP who became Britain’s most prolific serial killer.
Shipman is believed to have murdered 215 of his patients using the drug Diamorphine. Dame Janet recommended changes to the General Medical Council’s structure, tighter access to drugs and reform of death certification to make the system less open to abuse.
But tonight, in her first TV interview since the inquiry, she says too few changes have been made.
She says: “We haven’t moved at all on the basic death certification. It’s exactly the same.”
The Shipman inquiry lasted four years. It ended in 2005 after considering 270,000 pages of evidence.
More stringent cremation forms were introduced in January last year, but there is still no unified system covering all deaths. A process called revalidation – an MOT of a doctor’s fitness to practise – is also yet to be introduced.
Barry Swan, whose aunt and mother were killed by Shipman, tells Inside Out North West it would be ‘a travesty’ if there were still loopholes.
But Dr Kailash Chand, British Medical Association chairman for Tameside and Glossop, said: “You cannot design a foolproof system that will guarantee there will never be another Shipman.”
The son of a Shipman victim said the government should ensure all recommendations are implemented. Violet Bird died in May 1993 at her home in Hyde aged 60.
Her son Chris Bird, former Manchester City chief executive, said: “There has been a lot of big talk but it now needs the government to step in and get things moving.”
The GP murdered patients using the drug Diamorphine over a period of 20 years.
But he claims in the letters, which are analysed in the BBC probe, there were no witnesses.
In one he says: "No one saw me do anything. As for stealing morphine off the terminally ill, again no one saw me do it."
In another he says: "The police complain I’m boring. No mistresses, home abroad, money in Swiss banks, I’m normal. If that is boring I am."
Psychologist Dr David Holmes tells the programme Shipman’s letters show he relished being Britain’s most prolific serial killer.
The expert says: "He saw no one as superior to him. In his own mind, in his own eyes, he was some sort of medical god."
Shipman hanged himself in his cell while on remand at Wakefield Prison in 2004.
Comments
Login or Register to comment
'The expert says: "He saw no one as superior to him. In his own mind, in his own eyes, he was some sort of medical god."'
Exactly.
The politicians will not implement the recommendations because they quite like the idea of old people being bumped off. Several other doctors have come out of the woodwork saying that they have also killed patients as did Shipman. There is a big lobby pushing for euthanasia and they are resisting the implementation of the Shipman recommendations - some medics, many politicians and those who hate life.
When are recommendations ever implemented?
Because it's Tameside,just beyond the back of beyond!
You can't help wondering if it is worth changing and overhauling a hitherto workable system because of the totally unforseeable and unbelievable actions of one creep. You could hardly make it all up in a novel.
Shipman was denied an appeal...
I have experience in the field of death certification, the system is like a block of Swiss Cheese for all the holes it has. Someone with a little bit of knowledge and access to certificate books could easily cause problems from fraudulently claiming a person is dead for insurance purposes to more sinisiter goings on a la Shipman.
PW, Manchester - you say the actions of one creep......how do you know that there are no more Doctors like Shipman?
The wake-up call has been ignored because our representatives, politicians, refuse to accept that they are accountable for public safety. Instead of refusing to introduce any rules, regulations and standards they insist on letting doctors regulate doctors: you might as well let the dog guard the sausages. These dopy policiticans we cancel all Health and Safety regulations next to leave industrial safety in the hands of bonus-crazy managers.
We need real democracy in this country not less.
Isn't the problem we trust our Doctors too much? I very rarely see my Local GP only when needed. But the Elderly need more assurance on their care and well being. Shipman over the years gained profit from being a good doctor to the elderly patients that he managed. Maybe we should consider more centralised Medical Centres for GPs instead of local community surgeries. This will prevent familiarised doctor patient relationship. Or better still not having reliance on one favourite doctor more of a pool. All are trained to a high standard for this role as much as a tradesman in one particular skill. When I go to see a doctor I see any available not the one registered to.
Mrs Jammy "PW, Manchester - you say the actions of one creep......how do you know that there are no more Doctors like Shipman? "
Not impossible but I believe highly unlikely. Equivalent to a vicar practising devil worship. The man was a one-off, and I think front-end vetting should be tightened up. But certainly, if a doctor has been in serious trouble for stealing drugs and falsifying records then an eye should be kept on him/her in the future. That didn't happen here.
PW is correct. I have seen no explanation yet of why, after his earlier problems, he was allowed to run a single handed practice. This is not to condemn any single handed practices that remain, but rather to point out the obvious that there were no colleagues among whom alarm bells may have rung.