Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

Your feedback

Read feedback to our polls and surveys in August. Your feedback will be taken into account during the review of Good Medical Practice.

What do you want to see in GMP?

In August we asked you to vote on which of the three topics discussed by our guest writers should be covered in the revised Good Medical Practice. Many thanks to everyone who took part - 78 of you responded to the poll. 35 of you thought that there should be a duty on doctors to get patients back to work, though 9 specifically opposed this. 23 considered that there should be more on the needs of children and young people. And 20 of you indicated that there should be a duty to contribute to research.

Here are some of the comments you submitted.

  • ‘I think that returning to work should be part of clinical care pathways - this will assist the recovery of patients, help restore patients to their normal routines, and reduce the burden on society.’
  • ‘Most people seem to be healthier when working so in the interests of their health we should help them back to work when appropriate. ’   ‘I think it is important not to politicise the role of the doctor. Doctors are not superhuman. Doctors should facilitate patients returning to work wherever possible, but I'm not sure this being a "duty" is appropriate.'
  • ‘Research is very important but not all doctors have the talent to become good researchers. Being educated to contribute to research though is essential.’
  • ‘Why more on needs of children and young adults rather than any other group? They are the future true but we have to be able to serve all our patients.'

A number of respondents also commented that the choice of topics was limited and suggested areas that they wanted to see in Good Medical Practice which were not included in the poll. For that reason, our polls going forward will include a ‘none of the above’ option.

Some of the additional thoughts about what should be in Good Medical Practice included guidance on:

  • Care of frail elderly people
  • Accountability when working in multi-disciplinary teams
  • Record keeping
  • Disclosure of doctor’s financial interests in organisations providing care
  • The changing nature of professionalism and the doctor/patient partnership
  • Best practice in the use of social media  

 

 

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