04.12.12
Revalidation needs more patient feedback – MPs
The General Medical Council (GMC) must consider setting a “more challenging” target for doctors seeking patient feedback in revalidation.
The current timescale is every five years, but the new Health Select Committee suggests that this could provide greater assurance of competence to patients.
The committee’s new report also highlighted a lack of progress on tackling European laws that limit language testing of new doctors, and called for pilots of plans where doctors accept a sanction in a “clear-cut” case without a fitness-to-practise hearing, to ensure there is no detriment to the public interest.
The GMC should also speed up plans to tackle outstanding fitness-to-practise cases, the report states and recommends that 90% of cases are dealt with within 12 months, rather than 15.
Arrangements for informing patients of circumstances where a doctor has been required to undertake remediation measures must also be clarified urgently.
Stephen Dorrell, chair of the Health Committee welcomed the GMC’s commitment to introducing revalidation and said: “All doctors now need to consider the implications for them of the GMC’s commitment to develop an effective process of revalidation which underwrites the quality of patient care.
“We welcome the fact that the GMC is rightly concerned to be fair to all doctors, but the purpose of the system is to give patients the guarantee that any doctor practicing medicine in the UK delivers high quality and up-to-date medical care.”
Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC, said: “We believe that, over time, revalidation will improve the quality of care patients receive and, like the committee, we believe feedback from patients is critical and should be built upon as the model develops. We are determined that this should only be the start – the system will develop and improve as we build on the excellent progress we have made so far with patient groups, doctors, employers, the BMA and medical royal colleges.
“We remain committed to performing effectively across all of our functions and continuing to rise to the challenges of protecting patients. Appearing before the Committee is an important way of Parliament holding us to account. It helps make sure we are delivering regulation that is independent of government and with patient safety at its heart.”
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