New resources to help doctors treating patients with unfamiliar conditions

The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges (AoMRC) has today published new resources commissioned by the General Medical Council (GMC) to provide doctors with easily-accessible information to help improve patient care.

The GMC and AoMRC are working together on a project to improve shared clinical practice and learning between different specialties. As a result, a suite of resources has been produced to help doctors better understand conditions they might be unfamiliar with. These resources will support doctors to give the best care they can and encourage them to signpost patients towards specialists best placed to treat these conditions where appropriate.

Today’s launch focuses on three areas – eating disorders, intellectual disability and neuro-developmental conditions – with accessible information on each provided by specialists with years of experience.

These areas have been chosen as they include conditions that commonly occur in patients across different specialties. The new resources are designed to share learning, give doctors useful information and help them to improve patient outcomes. 

For example, the resources dealing with eating disorders give doctors advice on patients who may be anxious or fearful in healthcare settings.

The resources are available to any doctor in any specialty and will provide them with relevant guidance developed by clinicians who work with these conditions on a regular basis. 

Professor Sue Carr, Deputy Medical Director at the GMC, said:

‘Everyone in healthcare recognises the importance of sharing clinical knowledge for the benefit of patients and to help doctors they come into contact with.

’Doctors in the UK are under daily pressures to treat and diagnose in an increasingly busy environment. It is therefore important they have access to clear and up-to-date information they can trust.

’The publication of our shared clinical practice resources is part of our ongoing work to bridge the gaps that can exist between specialties of doctors, and so to improve treatment for patients.’

Read the newly-published resources, and get more information about the joint GMC and AoMRC shared clinical practice project.