This Will Only Hurt a Little

This trenchant and expert book by an experienced doctor - who has worked both in hospitals and in general practice - advances the urgent case for an independent medical inspectorate to stop a host of avoidable errors which damage patients. Dr. Pickering draws on his many years of practice and on his later career as an expert witness on behalf of plaintiffs, to marshal both arguments and detailed evidence which support the need for major changes. To prevent many avoidable clinical errors and to enhance clinical practice we urgently need a local and independent body in every region, free from the NHS 'brotherhood' of vested-interests yet staffed by clinicians. These local inspectors would all investigate all clinical practices. They would do so on a regular, normal, week-by-week basis. And thus help to prevent very many everyday errors which do so much damage to patients, and which are usually both costly and unremarked, and often disastrous to patients. As Dr. Hammond says: "It was a brilliant idea. It was strongly resisted by the medical establishment.