By The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (2016)
Doctors are giving too many patients tests and drugs they do not need, senior medics have warned, as they published a list of 40 treatments which should no longer be in routine use. The unprecedented intervention by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AMRC) follows research which found doctors commonly ordering X-ray, scans and drugs, in cases they believed to be pointless. More than six in 10 medics said their decisions had been driven by a fear of litigation, with just as many saying they ordered interventions because they felt under pressure from patients. The Academy – which represents all 21 medical royal colleges in the UK – has today drawn up a list of 40 treatments and procedures which it says are of little or no benefit to patients.