GMC treats us like criminals
At last it is being recognised that the General Medical Council, a body we as doctors have to pay for, is not there to help us but to attack us. What other professional organisation (a) encourages the public (i.e. patients we are trying to help) to complain, (b) publishes details of complaints with names, etc? The answer is none. We are paying for our own prosecutors and prosecution.
If you look at the GMC website, at the top on the left is the section "This month's hearings", telling you about current cases and recent decisions. A click on "Cases being heard this month" takes you to a daily timetable with the names of the doctors concerned. Click on the doctor's name, and you get a short summary of the case.
Click on "Recent decisions", and you get a choice of "Search fitness to practise decisions", "On-line doctor search", and "Interim orders". And all this available to every Tom, Dick and Harry who cares to look. To make matters worse, because the public are encouraged to complain to the GMC, the majority of such cases have no proper basis but are still featured at the GMC website.
Surely this is wrong? The Law Society, for instance, whose members take part in the Professional Conduct Committee circus, provides no information at all about disciplinary matters involving its members. Ironic, isn't it?
We all need to understand the GMC agenda. The GMC is not there for us, it is there against us. And we are paying for it. What is needed is an independent body whose role is to truly protect us from the injustices of the current health care system, from illogical managerial dictats driven by financial targets (and bonuses) to unjust patient expectations and complaints. And we need it now.
If you look at the GMC website, at the top on the left is the section "This month's hearings", telling you about current cases and recent decisions. A click on "Cases being heard this month" takes you to a daily timetable with the names of the doctors concerned. Click on the doctor's name, and you get a short summary of the case.
Click on "Recent decisions", and you get a choice of "Search fitness to practise decisions", "On-line doctor search", and "Interim orders". And all this available to every Tom, Dick and Harry who cares to look. To make matters worse, because the public are encouraged to complain to the GMC, the majority of such cases have no proper basis but are still featured at the GMC website.
Surely this is wrong? The Law Society, for instance, whose members take part in the Professional Conduct Committee circus, provides no information at all about disciplinary matters involving its members. Ironic, isn't it?
We all need to understand the GMC agenda. The GMC is not there for us, it is there against us. And we are paying for it. What is needed is an independent body whose role is to truly protect us from the injustices of the current health care system, from illogical managerial dictats driven by financial targets (and bonuses) to unjust patient expectations and complaints. And we need it now.
posted by Adam at Tuesday, February 07, 2006
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