The cost of unnecessary suspensions in the NHS is far too high, the Liberal Democrats said today. The comments were made in response to the Public Accounts Committee report published today showing that a number of exclusions had dragged on for years, wasting large sums of money.
Paul Burstow MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary, said:
"It is traumatic for the clinician and a huge waste of NHS resources to have doctors suspended for long periods. Patient safety must be a top priority in the NHS but the cost of unnecessary suspensions is far too high.
"There needs to be an open culture for reporting mistakes. Problems with staff must be tackled quickly and suspensions should be a last resort. Patient safety must be paramount, so if someone is suspended there must be an efficient system to alert other NHS employers."
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