Doctors who make honest mistakes will be given more protection under NHS plans to prevent blunders being covered up.

Under the plans, launched on Monday by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt, doctors accused of making errors will no longer be forced to disclose personal case notes.

The General Medical Council watchdog will also lose the power to appeal the outcomes of their tribunals.

Mr Hunt said the plans were a promise to doctors that “the NHS will support them to learn rather than seek to blame”.

Doctor will also be instructed to investigate every new death in England, as part of efforts to improve safety.

There are more than half-a-million deaths a year in England and Wales, of which around half are referred to a coroner for further investigation.

The new measures mean every case will be scrutinised in future by independent medical experts, so that medical errors are less likely to be repeated.

It follows an outcry over the case of a junior doctor who was convicted of manslaughter of a child due to gross negligence.