Patients wrongly diagnosed with diabetes, RCGP responds

College Chair Kamila Hawthorne today features on BBC News responding to reports of widespread errors in diabetes diagnosis machines, resulting in an estimated 55,000 patients in need of retesting.

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, Chair of the Royal College of GPs, said: "We understand that errors can and do happen, but the prospect of widespread technology failures like this will be of huge concern for all GPs, primarily because of the unnecessary distress, inconvenience and anxiety they can cause our patients.

"GPs and our teams will be working hard to ensuring that potentially affected patients have the correct tests, any appropriate aftercare and that their medical records are accurate and up to date. Whilst this will be their immediate priority, it will also have a significant impact on their workload, so it’s vital that GP teams impacted receive the support they need.

"Going forward, we need to ensure that we have robust mitigation processes in place so that there's little risk of issues like this arising and if they do, that we're in a position to ensure the impact on patients is minimal."

Further information

RCGP press office: 0203 188 7659
press@rcgp.org.uk

Notes to editors

The Royal College of General Practitioners is a network of more than 54,000 family doctors working to improve care for patients. We work to encourage and maintain the highest standards of general medical practice and act as the voice of GPs on education, training, research and clinical standards.