Support For Doctors' Assessments

This Ipsos research, undertaken for the Chief Medical Officer for England's Advisory Group, has looked at medical regulation in the light of the Shipman Inquiry's fifth report. The research was commissioned against the backdrop of the Government's review of the GMC's proposed new system of doctor revalidation. It was conducted among three key audiences -- the general public, hospital doctors and GPs. Its key findings include the following:

• The level of public knowledge about the current system of assessment of doctors is low. Only three per cent claim to know a great deal about the process of assessment, compared with over half (56%) who admit to knowing nothing at all. However, almost half the public assume that regular assessments are already taking place (every year to every ten years), with one in five (22%) thinking they already happen annually.
• The overall findings illustrate that assessment of doctors would be supported by the public and doctors alike. Over nine in ten members of the public (93%) believe it is important that doctors' competence be checked every few years. Support for this is also high among hospital doctors (88%) and GPs (71%). However, a higher proportion of the public would like to see annual checks than believe is currently the case, and the public is more likely to favour frequent checks than doctors. Almost half (46%) believe doctors should be assessed annually, compared with a quarter of hospital doctors (25%) and only a sixth of GPs (16%).
• The public are also more favourable to the involvement of knowledgeable lay people in the assessment of doctors. Half (52%) favour a mixture of medical professionals and knowledgeable lay persons being involved in the assessment, a view shared by only a third of hospital doctors (35%) and GPs (33%).
• Proof that doctors are keeping up-to-date with medical developments is thought by the public to be most important (67%), and receives an even higher rating among medical professionals (85% of hospital doctors and 81% of GPs). However, the public attaches considerable importance to good interpersonal skills. When asked what areas of their doctor's performance they would most like to comment on, communications skills came top (53%), followed by the degree of patient involvement in treatment decisions and keeping up-to-date with new developments in medicine (both 36%). The desire for doctors to have good interpersonal as well as clinical skills found in this work echoes findings from previous studies.

Download the combined report: Attitudes to Medical Regulation and the Revalidation of Doctors 2005 pdf, 1.3MB, featuring:

• Volume I: Research among the General Public and GPs July 2005
• Volume II: Research among Hospital Doctors December 2005

Technical details

• Volume I: GPs online between 23-25 June 2005, General Public, face to face between 16-20 June 2005
• Volume II: Hospital doctors by telephone between 3 November and 1 December 2005

For further information, please contact any of the following health researchers from the project team:

• Michele Corrado
• Anna Carluccio
• Corinne Wilkins
• Luke Daxon

Download the report Good Doctors, Safer Patientsat the Department of Health website.

See also Attitudes To Regulation Of Non-Medical Healthcare Professionals