HOSPITALS are to investigate whether women are being given a pregnancy test before they receive emergency treatment after research by a junior doctor discovered the checks were not being carried out on the majority of female patients.

The work by Dr Matilda Powell-Bowns, a trainee surgeon in Glasgow, has led to a change in practices in one health board after it revealed 80 per cent of female patients did not receive the simple urine test when they were admitted with abdominal pain.

Now 25 major Scottish hospitals are carrying out the same audit to ensure women of childbearing age are not pregnant before emergency treatment is carried out.

It is hoped her work will prevent women dying because they have an ectopic pregnancy - where the fertilised egg implants outside the womb - which has not been spotted.

In the last 10 years 58 women undergoing operations in hospital have died because they were suffering an ectopic pregnancy which had not been diagnosed.

The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh has awarded Dr Powell-Bowns, 28, a medal for the first stage of her research.

Ian Ritchie, president of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, said: "To ensure patient safety, all vital investigations including pregnancy tests must be carried out before undergoing surgery, and this should take place in hospitals across Scotland and the UK.

"Matilda's research was highly incisive and, most impressively, her findings have already been put into practice, helping save lives straight away."

Dr Powell-Bowns undertook her first study while working for NHS Tayside less than two years after she graduated from medical school.

She said: "I just kind of realised that even though we had ladies coming in with abdominal pain we automatically assumed it was not an ectopic pregnancy. We did not test people's urine. It was assumed the GP and accident and emergency department had done that."

She monitored practice over five months and found just one-fifth of cases were screened for pregnancy.

These results prompted surgeons at NHS Tayside to change the way they work - adding a pregnancy test to the checklist they run through before starting an operation.

Dr Powell-Bowns said: "The results were striking so they were taken on by the clinicians and influenced a change in practice. Now all women undergoing surgery will have a pregnancy test instead of the one in five who were previously being screened."

She went on to investigate whether women were tested before planned operations in the health board region. In a sample of 50, not one was tested, although the guidelines only require women to be asked if they are pregnant in this situation.

Dr Powell-Bowns is now training to be a surgeon with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and hospitals from Aberdeen to the Lothians are undertaking similar research.

She said: "I was delighted to be awarded the 'Surgeons in Training' medal to congratulate my simple project. The prize was not only an accolade but an amazing opportunity: to present my work at an international conference in Colombo, Sri Lanka."

Mr Ritchie, who is also a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon, said: "Junior doctors and surgical trainees are at the very coalface of healthcare delivery, and as such are uniquely placed to reveal opportunities for improvement."

The 25 hospitals are due to audit their own practices for checking women with abdominal pain for pregnancy later this month. Once the results are in, Dr Powell-Bowns will consider if improvements should be proposed.