Take Care Now was an independent provider of Out-of-hours services in England. The company had contracts in Cambridgeshire, Suffolk, Great Yarmouth and Waveney, and Worcester.
In May 2009, civil legal action was begun against Take Care Now after a locum doctor, Daniel Ubani recruited by TCN, through a locum agency, was convicted of manslaughter for giving a patient an overdose of morphine. [1] He had flown into the UK the day before his 12-hour Cambridgeshire shift for Take Care Now and had only had a few hours' sleep. [2] A spokeswoman for the Care Quality Commission said: ""We are aware of a number of concerns in relation to out-of-hours care provided by Take Care Now to the NHS." [3]
Take Care Now has been taken over by Harmoni and is now trading as Suffolk Integrated Healthcare.
In the medical profession, a general practitioner (GP) is a medical doctor who treats acute and chronic illnesses and provides preventive care and health education to patients of all ages.
Andrew David Lansley, Baron Lansley, is a British Conservative politician who previously served as Secretary of State for Health and Leader of the House of Commons. He was Member of Parliament (MP) for South Cambridgeshire from 1997 to 2015.
Addenbrooke's Hospital is an internationally renowned teaching hospital and research centre in Cambridge, England, with strong affiliations to the University of Cambridge. Addenbrooke's Hospital is based on the Cambridge Biomedical Campus. The hospital is run by Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is a designated academic health science centre. It is also the East of England's major trauma centre and was the first such centre to be operational in the United Kingdom.
Jeremy Richard Streynsham Hunt is a British politician serving as Chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee since 2020. He previously served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport from 2010 to 2012, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care from 2012 to 2018, and Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs from 2018 to 2019. A member of the Conservative Party, he has been Member of Parliament (MP) for South West Surrey since 2005.
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust is a British public sector healthcare provider located in Cambridge, England. It was established on 4 November 1992 as Addenbrooke's National Health Service Trust, and authorised as an NHS foundation trust under its current name on 1 July 2004.
A locum, or locum tenens, is a person who temporarily fulfills the duties of another; the term is especially used for physicians or clergy. For example, a locum tenens physician is a physician who works in the place of the regular physician when that physician is absent, or when a hospital or practice is short-staffed. These professionals are still governed by their respective regulatory bodies, despite the transient or freelance nature of their positions. Other positions can be held as locum, particularly social workers, counselors, nurses and other professionals.
The General Medical Council (GMC) is a public body that maintains the official register of medical practitioners within the United Kingdom. Its chief responsibility is to "protect, promote and maintain the health and safety of the public" by controlling entry to the register, and suspending or removing members when necessary. It also sets the standards for medical schools in the UK. Membership of the register confers substantial privileges under Part VI of the Medical Act 1983. It is a criminal offence to make a false claim of membership. The GMC is supported by fees paid by its members, and it became a registered charity in 2001.
In the United Kingdom, Ireland, and parts of the Commonwealth, consultant is the title of a senior hospital-based physician or surgeon who has completed all of their specialist training and been placed on the specialist register in their chosen speciality. Their role is entirely distinct from that of general practitioners, or GPs.
In English law, unlawful killing is a verdict that can be returned by an inquest in England and Wales when someone has been killed by one or more unknown persons. The verdict means that the killing was done without lawful excuse and in breach of criminal law. This includes murder, manslaughter, infanticide and causing death by dangerous driving. A verdict of unlawful killing generally leads to a police investigation, with the aim of gathering sufficient evidence to identify, charge and prosecute those responsible.
General medical services (GMS) is the range of healthcare that is provided by general practitioners as part of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom. The NHS specifies what GPs, as independent contractors, are expected to do and provides funding for this work through arrangements known as the General Medical Services Contract. Today, the GMS contract is a UK-wide arrangement with minor differences negotiated by each of the four UK health departments. In 2013 60% of practices had a GMS contract as their principle contract. The contract has sub-sections and not all are compulsory. The other forms of contract are the Personal Medical Services or Alternative Provider Medical Services contracts. They are designed to encourage practices to offer services over and above the standard contract. Alternative Provider Medical Services contracts, unlike the other contracts, can be awarded to anyone, not just GPs, don't specify standard essential services, and are time limited. A new contract is issued each year.
The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is an NHS trust responsible for providing National Health Service (NHS) ambulance services in the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk, in the East of England region. These consist of approximately 6.2 million people across an area of 7,500 square miles (19,000 km2).
The East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) is an air ambulance providing Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) across the English counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire. The appeal to fund the service was launched in the summer of 2000 by top jockey Frankie Dettori, who had been a casualty in a serious plane crash a couple of months earlier. When flying commenced in January 2001, the service was initially available only one day a week. The East Anglian Air Ambulance now operates two helicopters, 365 days a year, from its bases at Cambridge Airport and Norwich Airport, covering over 5,000 square miles (13,000 km2) and a population of approximately 3.5 million.
A sessional GP is an umbrella term for GPs whose work is organised on a sessional basis, as opposed to GP partners whose contract is generally for 24-hour care. The term was first coined by the National Association of Sessional GPs (NASGP), who at the time were called the National Association of Non-Principals (NANP). After consultation with their membership, it was perceived that the term 'non-principal' was a term that defined these GPs using a negative definition rather than a positive one.
Magpas Air Ambulance is an emergency medical charity that provides pre-hospital emergency care, in the air or on land, including treatments normally only available in hospital. The charity operates 24/7 from its base in Cambridgeshire and is activated to seriously ill or injured patients in Cambridgeshire, Bedfordshire and the East of England – caring for a population of over 10 million.
Care UK is a provider of residential care for older people. They operate more than 150 homes offering residential care, dementia care, and nursing care. The company formerly also operated a wider range of healthcare services until 2019 when these were split off to Practice Plus Group, private-equity firm Bridgepoint Group retaining ultimate control over both companies.
Out-of-hours services are the arrangements to provide access to healthcare at times when General Practitioner surgeries are closed; in the United Kingdom this is normally between 6.30pm and 8am, at weekends, at Bank Holidays and sometimes if the practice is closed for educational sessions.
Barbara Mary Hewson was an Anglo-Irish barrister with a practice in public law in both the Republic of Ireland and the United Kingdom. Hewson specialised in Court of Protection work, human rights, judicial review, and regulatory defence cases. She was interested in reproductive health and the rights of pregnant women, the mentally incapacitated and the mentally ill.
Healthcare in Suffolk is now the responsibility of two clinical commissioning groups: Ipswich and East Suffolk, and West Suffolk.
Jeremy Hunt served as Secretary of State for Health, later Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, from 2012 to 2018. Appointed by David Cameron, Hunt served in the Cameron–Clegg coalition and Cameron majority government. He was reappointed by Theresa May and served in the majority and minority May governments. In January 2018, Hunt gained additional responsibility for social care in England and, in June, became the longest-serving Health Secretary in British political history. He left the role when he was promoted to Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs after the resignation of Boris Johnson, and was succeeded by Matt Hancock.
Joan Ford was a British-born Canadian doctor who was the first woman physician at the Royal Columbian Hospital in British Columbia. She spent part of her career in Nepal serving the local Sherpa population.