BMA reports 100s of patient safety incidents from hospitals replacing doctors with non-doctor staff

Climate Crisis / 22 September 2026 Most Church of England cathedrals still use fossil fuel banks, study finds 22 September 2026 Scotland / 22 September 2026 Holyrood backs Scotland’s ‘right to decide’ 22 September 2026 Solidarity / 22 September 2026 Stop the War Scotland back rail unions' stand on Palestine 22 September 2026 Europe / 22 September 2026 Burnham warned against rejoining EU 22 September 2026 Politics / 22 September 2026 Welsh government sets out key priorities for Senedd term 22 September 2026 Workers' Rights / 22 September 2026 Breadlam as Hovis drivers begin indefinite strike over pay 22 September 2026 DOCTORS have reported hundreds of patient safety incidents due to hospitals “routinely” substituting them with advanced practitioners (APs).

Among the incidents published in a new British Medical Association (BMA) report today were an AP failing to arrange vital testing for a child with life-threatening meningitis and a missed cancer diagnosis.

BMA council chairman Dr Tom Dolphin said: “Patients are being put at risk of harm or even death because hospital managers are putting advanced practitioners and others into roles that should be filled by doctors, as this report and multiple inquests suggest.

“We have made clear, over and over, that there are times when patients must be seen by a doctor and this testimony lays out why in extensive, excruciating detail.

“Patients with missed diagnoses, patients with severe conditions given nothing but mild pain relief and sent on their way, and patients facing end-of-life conditions being offered totally substandard care: they all deserved so much better.

“One patient was lucky their mother was a doctor, as otherwise a potentially fatal case of meningitis would have been missed.”

Pointing a finger at hospital bosses, he added: “These leaders appear to be either asleep at the wheel or actively supporting the unsafe substitution of doctors.

“We need NHS leadership to wake up.”

APs include staff who originally trained as nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, midwives or other professional roles who then go on to gain further qualifications.

The BMA launched a tool enabling medics to report such cases in January. 

An NHS England spokesperson said: “NHS guidance is clear — advanced practitioners should never replace the role of doctors and should only be used in line with their competence and qualifications.

The Royal College of Emergency Medicine said that it reaffirmed its “strong support” of advanced clinical practice in emergency departments.

The Royal College of Nursing’s chief nursing officer Professor Lynn Woolley added: “Nurses working at an advanced level are highly skilled experts in their own right and in many settings will assess, diagnose and discharge.

“They do so backed by substantial, independent research which proves their care is safe and effective as part of the work done by multi-disciplinary teams.”