Northern Ireland: Tackle isolation among clinicians to avoid future patient harms, says review into neurologist

The health and care watchdog in Northern Ireland must tackle isolation among clinicians working alone, ensure proper multidisciplinary team working, and allow patients to have access to doctors’ letters to avoid repeating the damage to patients caused by a former consultant neurologist, a review has concluded.The review by the Royal College of Physicians found that 44 patients who died under the care of Michael Watt had “significant failures in their treatment,” with a high proportion of insecure diagnoses and patients who received inappropriate medication.Watt, who worked for Belfast Health and Social Care Trust until 2017, was at the centre of the biggest patient recall in Northern Ireland in 2018.Last June a public inquiry concluded that a series of failings by the trust allowed him to go on misdiagnosing and wrongly treating patients’ illnesses for a decade.1The latest review was commissioned by the Northern Ireland independent healthcare regulator, the Regulation and…
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