Government to review doctors' revalidation system
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《英国医生杂志》
The General Medical Council has postponed the introduction of its new system for assessing doctors?fitness to practise after the government asked to review the scheme because of criticisms of it (on p 10) in the fifth report of the Shipman inquiry.
The council抯 new scheme of revalidation will be shelved until the review is complete, which will not be until after the scheme was due to be launched in April 2005. The review, which is being led by Professor Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, will audit the proposed arrangements in detail. A statement from the Department of Health suggests that the proposed appraisal system may need to be strengthened to protect both patients and doctors.
The health minister Lord Warner said: "It would be unfair to doctors and confusing for patients to start the new revalidation scheme on one basis and then to make changes after considering Dame Janet抯 report. It would not be appropriate to ask parliament to consider the legislation needed to implement the changes proposed for April 2005 with such a level of uncertainty. That is why the changes cannot proceed as planned."
The fifth report of the Shipman inquiry, Safeguarding Patients: Lessons from the Past—Proposals for the Future (www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk), looked at how complaints against GPs were handled in the United Kingdom, alongside the GMC抯 planned new system for revalidation.
In a letter about her findings to the secretary of state for health and the home secretary, Dame Jane Smith, who chaired the inquiry, said that when dealing with complaints against doctors, the GMC had in the past "focused too much on the interests of the doctor and not sufficiently on the protection of patients." Dame Jane recommended revisiting the proposed revalidation scheme, which she insisted did not provide an adequate evaluation of fitness as it currently stood.
Graeme Catto, president of the GMC, confirmed that the council has agreed to the government抯 request. "I welcome the review. The GMC will shortly be writing to all doctors on the register on this issue," he said.(London Zosia Kmietowicz)
The council抯 new scheme of revalidation will be shelved until the review is complete, which will not be until after the scheme was due to be launched in April 2005. The review, which is being led by Professor Liam Donaldson, the chief medical officer, will audit the proposed arrangements in detail. A statement from the Department of Health suggests that the proposed appraisal system may need to be strengthened to protect both patients and doctors.
The health minister Lord Warner said: "It would be unfair to doctors and confusing for patients to start the new revalidation scheme on one basis and then to make changes after considering Dame Janet抯 report. It would not be appropriate to ask parliament to consider the legislation needed to implement the changes proposed for April 2005 with such a level of uncertainty. That is why the changes cannot proceed as planned."
The fifth report of the Shipman inquiry, Safeguarding Patients: Lessons from the Past—Proposals for the Future (www.the-shipman-inquiry.org.uk), looked at how complaints against GPs were handled in the United Kingdom, alongside the GMC抯 planned new system for revalidation.
In a letter about her findings to the secretary of state for health and the home secretary, Dame Jane Smith, who chaired the inquiry, said that when dealing with complaints against doctors, the GMC had in the past "focused too much on the interests of the doctor and not sufficiently on the protection of patients." Dame Jane recommended revisiting the proposed revalidation scheme, which she insisted did not provide an adequate evaluation of fitness as it currently stood.
Graeme Catto, president of the GMC, confirmed that the council has agreed to the government抯 request. "I welcome the review. The GMC will shortly be writing to all doctors on the register on this issue," he said.(London Zosia Kmietowicz)