Scandal-hit hospital where celebrity make-up artist died from sepsis is accused of ‘putting lives at risk’ by having unqualified medics covering doctors’ shifts in A&E
- FOI reveals Royal Berkshire Hospital has used PAs to fill the shifts of A&E doctors
- PAs – or physician assistants – have a two-year degree and do not have a medical degree
- Make-up artist died of sepsis after PA failed to indicate he needed antibiotics
A scandal-hit hospital has been accused of putting lives at risk by having unqualified doctors covering the services of emergency doctors.
The Royal Berkshire Hospital is under scrutiny following the death of a celebrated film make-up artist who died following an alleged blunder by a doctor’s staff member.
A PA is one NHS doctor without a medical degree and only two years of training, intended only to assist doctors and nurses.
But new documents released in response to a Freedom of Information request show the hospital used PAs to fill the shifts of emergency room doctors more than 70 times in the past year.
The revelations come after Christopher Tucker, 81, who made prosthetics for the 1980 film The Elephant Man, died of complications from his illness. sepsis at the hospital in December 2022 after the PA treating him failed to document that Mr. Tucker needed antibiotics.
Documents released following a Freedom of Information request show that the Royal Berkshire Hospital in Reading has used Physician Associates (PAs) to fill emergency department doctor services more than 70 times in the past year.
In March, NHS England told all trusts not to use PAs to replace doctors. Pictured: Demonstrators earlier this year protesting the overuse of PAs in hospitals
He died 48 hours later.
While an internal investigation by the Royal Berkshire NHS Foundation Trust found the PA was not responsible for his death, Mr Tucker’s family called for a new investigation.
“These are devastating findings,” said Dr Matt Kneale, a member of the Doctors’ Association UK, which represents NHS doctors.
‘Qualified PAs are not a safe replacement for physicians, so using PAs in training, with less than 18 months of training, puts patients at risk.
‘The fact that this follows Mr Tucker’s death shows that there are several red flags about the way this trust uses PAs.’
The Mail on Sunday first raised the alarm about PAs last year and has since been campaigning against Rein In The Physician Associates.
The NHS plans to recruit around 10,000 PAs by 2038 to ease pressure on the NHS.
In March, NHS England told all trusts not to use PAs to replace doctors.
But since then, Royal Berkshire Hospitals has used them 19 times to cover emergency doctors.
A spokesman for the trust said it had a ‘clear code of practice and rigorous governance around their (PA’s) work’.
The revelations come after Christopher Tucker, 81, who made prosthetics for the 1980 film The Elephant Man, died in hospital from sepsis in December 2022 after the PA who treated him failed to document that he needed antibiotics (file photo)
