Blunders by poorly trained and inexperienced anaesthetists are harming up to 130 patients in Scotland, a new study has revealed.
Analysis of surgical deaths between 1996 and 2006 found 1,300 cases across the UK in which the use of anaesthetics was an "area of concern".
Most of the errors were made by junior medics who were asked to perform tasks beyond their ability and who failed to ask advice from senior members of staff.
In some cases their mistakes led to patients being given the wrong medicines or inappropriate doses, causing fatal respiratory and cardiac problems.
The findings, published in the medical journal Anaesthesia, have raised fresh concern over the training of junior doctors and the extent to which patients are killed or injured by medical errors.
Senior consultants insist the rate of errors by anaesthetists has dropped dramatically in recent years, but have warned that attempts to reduce doctors' hours are threatening patient safety.
Doctors at the Aberdeen Royal Infirmary reviewed data held by the Paisley-based Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality (SASM). They discovered that in 364 cases, pre-operative assessments to determine conditions such as heart problems were inadequate and in almost 300 cases the anaesthetist was too junior or failed to seek advice.
Patients in shock are particularly prone to cardiac arrest as anaesthetics can cause blood pressure to drop. Other complications, such as poor or incorrect techniques, leading to respiratory and cardiac problems, were identified in 295 cases.
Dr Nick Pace, clinical director of theatre anaesthetics for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and chairman of SASM, said: "We have addressed the issues raised by this study and there is much greater involvement by consultants in patient care."
