Harold Shipman, was a British doctor and one of the most prolific serial killers in recorded history with up to 250 proven murders between 1971 and 1998. In total, 459 people died while under his care, but it is uncertain how many of those were Shipman's victims, as he was often the only doctor to certify a death. On 31 January 2000, a jury found Shipman guilty of 15 murders. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and the judge recommended that he never be released. After his trial, The Shipman Inquiry began on 1st September 2000, lasting almost two years it was an investigation into all deaths certified by Shipman. About 80% of his victims were women, his youngest victim being a 41 year old man. Much of Britain's legal structure concerning health care and medicine was reviewed and modified as a direct and indirect result of Shipman's crimes. Shipman is the only British doctor who has been found guilty of murdering his patients. Shipman died on the 13th January 2004 after hanging himself in his cell at Wakefield Prison.
There has been a lot of concern over the Harold Shipman case especially in the public sector. People have responded with anger towards the Department of Health and towards the Government in the belief that they have taken advantage of public concerns following Shipman's conviction to introduce tough controls over general practice. There have been attacks directed specifically at single handed practices. While there may be a tendency among some managers and policy-makers to regard single handed practices as undesirable, the use of Shipman as a reason for encouraging the end of single handed practice cannot be justified since he managed to kill approximately 80 patients whilst working in two different group practices. It would be more appropriate to regard Shipman as a general failure of monitoring rather than a failure to single handed practice.
Single-handed GP providers are partners who practise without any other