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Lib Dems urge rail fare refunds Lib Dems urge tests on EU doctors
(about 16 hours later)
Rail passengers moved on to replacement bus services should have a third of their fare refunded, the Lib Dems say. The Liberal Democrats have called for doctors from other European Union countries working in the UK to be subject to tougher restrictions.
Transport spokesman Norman Baker will also call for Network Rail executives to be replaced by a "public interest board", to end train users' "raw deal". The party has called for exams to root out those with poor language skills and inferior medical training.
This would be made up of consumer champions, council leaders and independent experts, he will say. It follows the case of an out-of-hours GP from Germany who accidentally gave a patient a fatal overdose.
Network Rail should also be opened up to freedom of information requests, Mr Baker will argue in a speech later. The Department of Health said primary care trusts were already legally bound to provide safe, high quality care.
The refunds to passengers forced to use replacement buses - used when there are problems or works on the line - would be paid for by Network Rail, the Lib Dems say. Fatal dose
'Disappointing' Lib Dem health spokesman Norman Lamb said: "I believe patients lives are at risk because standards across Europe are not uniformly good and because doctors can come into this country and practise in the NHS without a test of competence and language."
Mr Baker, who is also MP for Lewes, East Sussex, will tell an audience in London about his party's plans for the rail network in the lead-up to the next general election, which is expected to take place on 6 June. Mr Lamb's party will also press in the Commons for a new criminal offence under which hospital managers could face prosecution if they fail to carry out such tests.
He will say: "Train passengers have been given a raw deal from Network Rail, which is completely unaccountable and pays far too little attention to their needs. There are almost 20,000 doctors from the EU qualified to work in the UK.
"It is disappointing that the government has done nothing to put this right. But EU regulations designed to encourage the free movement of labour mean they are not subject to the same checks as those from outside.
"The Liberal Democrats would put passengers at the heart of the rail network by creating a system that puts their interests first. In 2008, Dr Daniel Ubani accidentally gave 70-year-old Cambridgeshire patient David Gray 10 times too much painkiller and was given a nine-month suspended sentence in Germany for negligence.
"Key to this is reforming Network Rail, as well as reopening railway lines and stations, speeding up the electrification of the network and the delivery of new trains and carriages." An inquest into Mr Gray's death heard Dr Ubani was not selected by a primary care trust (PCT) after failing a language test.
The Conservatives say they will reform Network Rail "to make it more accountable to passengers and train operators". Leeds PCT was not satisfied with Dr Ubani's application, but the head of the firm which supplied doctors to Take Care Now told the hearing she had understood him.
The party is calling for "a new supervisory board with a stronger voice for passengers and train operators" and with "the power to hold the Network Rail management to account and to set the overall strategy for the company".
Labour is promising to create "a simplified structure of rail fares and ticket types, with one name for each type of ticket across all operators".