1. A patient recently asked me which doctor at the hospital she should see. I replied they were all fine, that hers was a routine operation.
But which one, she asked, would listen. How would she know? She'd had a bad experience with a consultation in outpatients the year before, and didn't want to repeat it. What did patients and colleagues think of the consultants in that department?
2. We discussed the role of the CCG in improving primary care quality recently. We agreed that the CCG had a unique opportunity, as a membership organisation, to promote transparency, increased peer review, open discussion regarding local services.
So, on a personal level, I've decided to publish my scores from my revalidation survey. Thousands of doctors have been revalidated so far. Would it help patients if results were public? At least discussed within practices or departments. No doubt there will be those who argue for and against. Popularity isn't the same as quality. It is by no means a perfect system. But there's an opportunity to increase transparency, to publish both peer and patient feedback, and it's at least a debate worth having.
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