Good Medical Practice #3
Summary
My facial Pain is a quest to find answers about my condition. It is also a quest to find answers about how such a radical deviation from Good Medical Practice, by so many consultants, across so many NHS Trusts has gone unregulated for a whole decade. Good Medical Practice #3 reflects on whether there is enough regulation of doctors, who practice within the UK.
Guidance not Rules
McManus, Gordon and Winder explain in their article; Duties of a Doctor: UK doctors and Good Medical Practice that GMC guidance is ‘in effect a definition of best quality medical care, against which the performance of a doctor can be judged. Its role is advising on the basic principles of good practice. It is only guidance. It is not a set of rules, nor is it exhaustive.’[1]
McManus, Gordon and Winder recount an experiment, that was conducted, where questionnaires were sent to 794 doctors. The questionnaire asked how much the doctors knew about Good Medical Practice. ‘Eighty-nine per cent of doctors acknowledged that they had received a copy of Good Medical Practice, however only 17% of doctors had read it carefully.’[2]
This is an extremely low percentage of doctors, who seem familiar with Good Medical Practice.
Reflections
I have walked out of so many consultations in tears. This is because a consultant has been either dishonest, rude or disrespectful. I have asked myself whether they would have behaved that way if a member of the British Medical Association or General Medical Council had been watching the consultation. If there had been surveillance from a regulatory body, I do not believe that they would have spoken to me like this. If The British Medical Association or General Medical Council made unannounced visits to consultations, like the Care Quality Commission do with unannounced inspections, things could potentially progress. More supervision could foster greater adherence to GMC guidelines by medical professionals.
Does the General Medical Council assume, that because consultants and surgeons reside within an intelligence sphere that many of us don’t touch the sides of; that they are immune from having to follow GMC guidance? I do not understand why there is not more regulation of doctors, or more effort made, to at least ensure that all doctors are familiar with Good Medical Practice. Greater regulation is needed. There needs to be stricter rules to ensure that all medical practitioners are abiding by GMC guidance. Good Medical Practice is in place to protect public safety. The GMC has a duty, therefore, to make more stringent enforcement of these guidelines.
On Humans
As humans, we are all capable of behaving badly and not following guidelines. Look at the Pandemic Government. Most of its shining stars have gone, minus Rishi Sunak. They have gone because they broke their own rules. They did not tell the truth. The public lost trust in them. The lasting image for me, of the Pandemic Cabinet was, Queen Elizabeth, sitting alone, in a cubicle , at her husband, Prince Philip’s funeral, whilst Matt Hancock, the then Health secretary, was snogging his aide behind closed doors, at The Houses of Parliament. It reeked.
Doctors are not exempt from the human ability to behave badly and deviate from guidance. There must, therefore, be greater regulation to ensure that all medical professionals, even those who are highest up the ladder, adhere to Good Medical Practice, in order to keep the public safe.
Conclusion
McManus et al, state how there has been increasing publicity about errors and malpractice of hospital physicians and general practitioners. They explain that ‘the medical profession in the UK is currently self-regulated. There have been fears that unless the General Medical Council (GMC) responds to growing public fears, the self-regulation of doctors may not be sustainable for too much longer.’
I would argue, from my experience over the last decade, that it is time to move on from self-regulation of doctors. We need doctors, who we can trust. There needs to be stricter regulation of conduct within clinical settings, to ensure stories like mine do not repeat themselves. It is time to move towards stricter surveillance of medical professionals, to ensure that the public are kept safe.
Recommended Articles
Good Medical Practice guidelines
Foot Notes
[1] McManus, IC, Gordon D, Winder BC; Duties of a doctor: UK doctors and Good Medical Practice, P14, Quality in Healthcare, 2000
[2] McManus, IC, Gordon D, Winder BC; Duties of a doctor: UK doctors and Good Medical Practice, P18, Quality in Healthcare, 2000