Peter Hawker chairman of the BMA's consultants' committee said: If a doctor has been suspended from NHS practice

Peter Hawker, chairman of the BMA's consultants' committee, said: "If a doctor has been suspended from NHS practice because of serious concerns about patient safety, it would be clearly wrong for the doctor to be practising in the same area privately."That makes it all the more important to reform the suspension procedure so that it is genuinely used to protect patient safety and not for other, arbitrary reasons," he said.case study 1MEP to sue over death of husbandBARONESS Nicholson's husband, Sir Michael Caine, died after suffering a cardiac arrest following an operation at the King Edward VII Hospital for Officers last February.Lady Nicholson has since pressed for tighter regulation of the private sector. The Consumers' Association criticised the committee for failing to recommend an extension of the health ombudsman's remit to the private sector.The British Medical Association called for reform of the system for suspending doctors. The ASA responded that it was constantly upholding complaints against the clinics and complained it had had to shoulder an unfair burden.The report, which includes recommendations for the protection of residents of mental nursing homes and children's homes, was broadly welcomed by medical organisations and the private sector. It also recommends that a conspicuous health warning be placed on all cosmetic surgery advertisements "to the effect that all surgery carries an element of risk". It lambasts the Advertising Standards Authority for failing to crack down on cosmetic surgery clinics which take out advertisements featuring overly-flattering descriptions of their surgeons as "top" or "highly-experienced"."It is clear to us that the ASA is failing to protect the public against misleading advertisements," the report says, and calls for legislation to deal with them. The report says that suspended doctors should be automatically notified by the General Medical Council to all NHS and private hospitals to protect patients.The committee is particularly keen to tighten up regulation of the cosmetic surgery business. The select committee notes that ministers have performed a U-turn on the issue after claiming a year ago that regulation could be left to market forces.The MPs decided to launch their own inquiry - the first mounted into the private sector - in February after hearing anecdotal reports of poor practice and "disturbing accounts" of doctors suspended from the NHS continuing to work in the private sector while investigations proceeded into their past practice.

In its place, the select committee calls for an independent regulator for private hospitals and other non-NHS homes and clinics, and a system of licensing to ensure they only carry out treatment that they are competent to perform.The Government welcomed the report which echoed its own proposals, hastily published last month, for reforming what it described yesterday as the "out of date" and "unsatisfactory" regulation of private hospitals. Almost a third of all hip replacements are carried out privately and almost half of all abortions.At present the sector operates under the Registered Homes Act, 1984, which was designed for nursing homes and was described as "inadequate for the task of protecting the public". About 850,000 patients have private operations each year, accounting for 20 per cent of all routine surgery. The lack of proper regulation left patients ignorant of the risks they were taking, in the hands of staff who might not be competent to look after them, and without the means to complain or seek redress when things went wrong. In a devastating report, the MPs say patients deserve the same protection from poor practice in the private sector as in the NHS. Many private hospitals were too small, had too few back up facilities and were forced to operate commercially in a way that could "jeopardise patient safety", the health select committee said.

TRAGIC CASES in which patients have died in private hospitals provided "graphic and moving evidence" of the need to tighten regulation of the private sector, an all-party group of MPs said yesterday. would it not now be wise to reconsider the huge reductions in the TA?"Replying, Mr Blair stressed: "Your government cut defence spending by almost 30 per cent and cut the TA as well These changes are to the benefit of the TA They will be better used in the future.". Figures released later by Tory sources showed that the average class size in primary schools had stalled from 27.5 in 1996 at 27.6 this year. The numbers for secondary schools had risen during the same period from 21.9 to 22.0.t The Prime Minister rejected calls by the Tory leader yesterday to think again about "huge reductions" in the Territorial Army.Mr Hague warned that the Army was now "severely overstretched" and urged the Government to postpone cuts in the TA: "You must know that the Army is severely overstretched with 89 per cent of its forces committed in some way... If you take them all together, primary school classes are falling Class sizes have fallen for the first time in 10 years. We are seeing falls in primary school classes," he said.In bitter exchanges, the Tory leader challenged Mr Blair to admit that he was wrong when he told MPs at question time last week that class sizes were falling.

"What you actually did for primary schools was take one key stage and omit the rest. So it is unfair to suggest that we are wasting taxpayers' money.". WILLIAM HAGUE, the Tory leader, attacked the Prime Minister yesterday for failing to reduce class sizes, claiming the overall number had gone up last year. But Tony Blair insisted during question time that the forthcoming annual government report would prove that the extra money from the scrapped assisted- places scheme meant that thousands of primary pupils were now in classes of fewer than 30. He accused Mr Hague of being "mistaken" and using the "wrong figures".

Compared with the extra facilities they needed, such as the chamber .. they spent roughly the same as us. MPs will be able to relax in a leafy courtyard, which may even feature a fountain, although MPs deny that they are planning any unnecessary extravaganza. "We must be the only Parliament in the developed world which does not accommodate its MPs," Sir Sydney said. Perched above the new Westminster Jubilee Line station, the building will also house four shops that MPs hope to rent out.MPs travelled to Berlin to compare plans for the Reichstag with those for Portcullis House.David Chidgey, a Liberal Democrat member of the committee, said: "The German government has spent pounds 1bn on the Reichstag. The construction team's original pounds 165m estimate failed to anticipate inflation and spiralling fees.The rooms in the building are divided up by solid concrete partitions and there are several committee rooms and restaurants.