Wesson leads watchdog to return faith in NHS doctors

A York-based solicitor has been appointed chairwoman of the National Clinical Assessment Authority (NCAA), a special health authority set up to monitor the quality of doctors working in the NHS in the wake of scandals such as those involving organ removal at Alder Hey and the mass murderer Harold Shipman.Jane Wesson, a consultant at York firm Ashworth Tetlow & Co, said doctors would be referred to the NCAA by their health authorities, and her role was intended to help restore faith in the medical profession.

'Recently doctors have been tarred with the brush of incompetency or just plain wickedness,' she said.'The public have to rely on individual doctors having a strong sense of ethics, and that is where the NCAA comes in,' she said.

'When a doctor is referred to us, we provide advice and support, and carry out targeted assessments of their performance when necessary.'Ms Wesson is currently chairwoman of Harrogate Healthcare NHS Trust and a past chairwoman of the Independent Tribunal Service.

She said her legal background, including a stint as a commercial litigator at Eversheds in the 1980s, is 'extremely' helpful in her new role.

'Being able to analyse complex arguments, assimilate huge amounts of documents fast and being completely impartial in disputes are all skills learnt in the law,' she said.

'It also helps being able to understand the pressures of a highly stressful profession such as law or medicine.' Although a decrease in litigation against the NHS would be a spin-off of the NCAA ensuring improvements in patient care, Ms Wesson stressed that this is not the organisation's main aim.

'Any decrease in litigation would be a byproduct of the work we do, but our main aim is to provide support to doctors and restore faith in the system.'Victoria MacCallum