Doctors face loss of licence in annual assessments

Doctors face loss of licence in annual assessments

Britain's 150,000 doctors are to face annual assessments to identify poor performers who will be stripped of their licences, under a proposal to be outlined today.

GPs, hospital consultants and private practitioners will also have to renew their licences every five years under the plan to be announced by the chief medical officer, Sir Liam Donaldson.

The yearly checks, which will include analysis of feedback from patients, will look at practitioners' prescribing habits, how adequately they assess the condition of patients, and personal problems which might affect their work, such as drug or alcohol abuse.

Harold Shipman, the GP who murdered at least 215 victims by giving lethal morphine injections between 1975 and 1998, was addicted to the painkiller pethidine and was convicted of prescribing it for personal use. He also unlawfully acquired the diamorphine he used to kill.

Donaldson will call for senior doctors to assess others who are practising in their area to ensure they are not putting patients at risk.

His report, Medical Revalidation: Principle and Next Steps, will also suggest ways to ensure that doctors keep up to date with medical advances. It is expected to argue that regular assessment would raise standards among doctors, rather than being a way to discipline those who do cause concern.

The General Medical Council (GMC), which has been discussing the revalidation of doctors for almost 10 years, taking the Shipman.....continued below

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case into consideration, was part of the working group which created the report.

Today also sees the launch of a drive to cut over-prescribing of antibiotics by GPs to patients who complain of common coughs and colds. Figures show that a quarter of people in England and Wales visit their doctor every year because of symptoms of a respiratory tract infection, and account for 60% of all antibiotic prescribing in general practice. It was reported earlier this year that 38m prescriptions for antibiotics were written by GPs in 2007 at a cost to the NHS of £175m.

Evidence shows that antibiotics have limited effectiveness in treating most tract infections, and over-prescribing has been linked to the development of superbugs, which become resistant to most forms of the drug.

Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) instruct doctors to hold back from prescribing antibiotics straight away for respiratory infections in children and adults.

They should tell patients suffering ear infections, sore throats, sinus trouble and coughs and colds that antibiotics will "make little difference to symptoms and may have side-effects".

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