A SYSTEM of monitoring doctors to prevent or deter another serial killer such as Harold Shipman is unlikely to work, a new study has claimed.
Researchers at the University of Dundee found that routine mortality monitoring in general practice was only likely to raise the alarm about murderers such as Shipman once they had already completed "dozens" of killings.
The researchers, led by Pr
ofessor Bruce Guthrie at the Tayside Centre for General Practice, examined the effectiveness of routine mortality monitoring – one of the measures that was recommended by the Shipman Inquiry to increase the chance of deterring and detecting a future serial killer.
The study found that even extreme killers such as Shipman may only be picked up by the system when they had already killed repeatedly.
The report, published in the British Journal of General Practice, gave a figure of more than 30.
It said: "A monitoring system that can only detect a serial killer after 30 or more people have been murdered is not 'effective' in any meaningful way, and it represents a failure of other mechanisms that are intended to detect and deter murderers by ensuring that every death is properly accounted for."
Guthrie added: "It is extremely difficult to establish an effective monitoring system like this, and there are clear doubts over how effective it can be.
"Based on our analysis, monitoring mortality rates is not enough and cannot substitute for other recommended reforms, such as an effective reform of the coroner and death certification systems, which were also recommended by the Shipman Inquiry but have not been pursued."
The full article contains 267 words and appears in Scotland On Sunday newspaper.
