Newborn ‘disabled after signs of serious illness missed by junior doctor’

A newborn baby at a hospital at the centre of scandals suffered lifelong injuries after a doctor with just two years’ training failed to spot “worrying” signs the child was ill, The Mail on Sunday reports.

The baby was born at West Suffolk Hospital and was cared for by a physician associate (PA), an NHS worker without a medical degree who is only meant to assist doctors and nurses.

They are not qualified to diagnose patients, prescribe medications or perform scans. They must be supervised by a physician.

However, in this case, a PA and a neonatal nurse were asked to check the newborn’s blood counts, but they missed any clear signs that the child was ill.

As a result, the unidentified child was sent home and did not receive a doctor’s visit until readmission to the hospital.

The newborn suffered “serious” injuries and faces “long-term disability” or “incapacity,” according to documents released under the Freedom of Information Act.

Physician associates (PA) do not have a medical degree and are only meant to assist physicians and nurses. They are not qualified to diagnose patients, prescribe medications, or order scans, and are meant to be supervised by a physician (file photo)

The April 2021 incident came just months before midwives at the hospital in Bury St Edmunds blew the whistle on a “serious” shortage of maternity staff, which had led to “substandard care” for mothers and babies.

In a letter to a local newspaper published in August 2021, they said they were “overwhelmed by the unmanageable and relentless workload” and that the department felt “unsafe.”

The latest story follows an MoS investigation this month which found hospitals were breaching NHS rules and allowing PAs to treat seriously ill patients instead of doctors.

We found dozens of cases where hospitals have deployed PAs, against NHS guidelines, to make up for doctor shortages in departments such as gynaecology and emergency.

The Mail on Sunday first raised the alarm about PAs last year and is now running the Rein In The Physician Associates campaign.

We believe that there should be strict limitations on the tasks that PAs are allowed to perform.

Following our investigation, the government promised to end this practice and ensure that patients are ‘cared for by appropriately qualified healthcare professionals’.

But we can now reveal that a hospital where a patient died as a result of an alleged PA blunder is allowing these young doctors to perform potentially dangerous procedures.

PAs working in the emergency department at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading have been told they can perform spinal taps, also known as lumbar punctures, which involve inserting a long needle into the spine to look for serious disease.

PAs working in the emergency department at the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading have been told they can perform spinal taps and use a defibrillator

According to documents seen by this newspaper, they were also given permission to operate a defibrillator.

The hospital has been under strict surveillance after famed film make-up artist Christopher Tucker, 81, died in December 2022 from sepsis after the doctor treating him failed to record that he needed antibiotics.

The General Medical Council (GMC), the public body that oversees doctors, has been asked to draw up regulations for PAs, with guidance expected to be published later this year.

According to the MoS, GMC director Charlie Massey told a meeting with concerned patients last week that he is confident that PAs will soon be given the power to prescribe medicines.

Experts have called on the NHS to take urgent action to tackle the growing PA crisis.

Dr Helen Fernandes, chair of the doctors’ association, which represents NHS clinicians, warned: ‘The introduction of PAs is an experiment happening before our eyes.

‘When the NHS brings a new medicine to market, it undergoes rigorous safety checks before it is released to the market.

“But PAs are being unleashed on health care without any regulation. We don’t know what they’re doing and how often they’re making mistakes.”

Karen Newbury, director of midwifery at West Suffolk NHS Foundation Trust, said of the injured baby: ‘While our teams work incredibly hard to provide all our babies and parents with the best and safest care possible, sometimes things unfortunately don’t go as planned. We would like to once again offer our sincere apologies to the family.

“We have conducted a detailed evaluation of this event and are developing a robust improvement plan to make our services stronger and safer for future patients.”

The Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust said its PAs ‘operate under the supervision of medical staff’, adding: ‘We have a clear code of conduct and strict governance for their work.

‘They are also subject to competency assessments to monitor the safety and quality of their work.’

Mr Massey said: ‘While physician associates play an important role in patient care, they are not doctors, cannot replace them and should never be used to fill gaps in doctors’ schedules.

‘Employers must ensure that governance structures ensure that PAs work under appropriate supervision.’