Regulating doctors, ensuring good medical practice

Ensuring high standards of care

  1. 24. Early identification of problems or issues with the performance of individuals, teams or services is essential to help protect patients.

All doctors

  1. 25. You must take part in regular reviews and audits of the standards and performance of any team you work in, taking steps to resolve any problems.
  2. 26. You should be familiar with, and use, the clinical governance and risk management structures and processes within the organisations you work for or to which you are contracted. You must also follow the procedure where you work for reporting adverse incidents and near misses. This is because routinely identifying adverse incidents or near misses at an early stage, can allow issues to be tackled, problems to be put right and lessons to be learnt.
  3. 27. You must follow the guidance in Good Medical Practice2 and Raising and acting on concerns about patient safety1 when you have reason to believe that systems, policies, procedures or colleagues are, or may be, placing patients at risk of harm.

Doctors with extra responsibilities

  1. 28. If you have a management role or responsibility, you must make sure that systems are in place to give early warning of any failure, or potential failure, in the clinical performance of individuals or teams. These should include systems for conducting audits and considering patient feedback. You must make sure that any such failure is dealt with quickly and effectively.
  2. 29. If you are managing or leading a team, you should make sure that systems, including auditing and benchmarking, are in place to monitor, review and improve the quality of the team’s work. You must work with others to collect and share information on patient experience and outcomes. You must make sure that teams you manage are appropriately supported and developed and are clear about their objectives.