Results from attitude surveys commissioned
by the General Medical Xouncil (GMC) from MORI and NOP World during spring/summer
2005 show that over four out of five patients are confident in their
doctor
and
that
this confidence is directly correlated with the doctor’s ability
to provide adequate information, underlining how much good communication
skills influence the way in which the general public responds to their
doctor.
996 members of the public, 203 GPs and 100 hospital doctors were interviewed
in May and June and a range of questions relating to the doctor patient
relationship, confidence in the regulatory systems and complaint procedures
were put to them.
For the 7% expressing a lack of confidence in their doctor,
this mainly reflected their sense of the doctor’s poor listening
and explaining skills. Doctors themselves believe that good communication
skills are central to gaining patients’ trust with at least 75%
of both GPs and hospital doctors agreeing that these are key.
When asked whether they would make a complaint if they had cause to,
80% of members of the public said they would. For those
who wouldn’t, almost 30% would be put off by the bureaucracy,
25% wouldn’t know how to, and around 20% believes
they wouldn’t be listened to, or wouldn’t want to make a
fuss.
In line with GMC concerns about improving the links between local systems
of governance and national regulation, over a 33% of GPs and 30% hospital
doctors expressed a lack of confidence in regulation, provided through
the way in which local governance and appraisal systems are linked
to the GMC. These concerns are also demonstrated by the fact that although
around half of GPs said they were happy with clinical governance information
being used as the basis for revalidation of their registration with the
GMC, approaching one in five said they lacked confidence in it and almost
three in ten were unable to say either way.
Over half of the public expressed confidence in the regulatory system
and almost all (94%) said there should be regular checks to make
sure that doctors are up to date with their knowledge and skills required
to do their job.
President of the GMC, Professor Sir Graeme Catto, said:
“ This pilot survey has given the GMC some extremely useful insights
into how the public and the profession regard doctors and how they are
regulated. It is clear that the public continue to hold doctors in high
regard but only as long as those doctors are able to communicate well.
Patients expect to be treated with respect and given proper information
about any proposed treatment. When doctors are able to listen and explain,
patients respond by trusting their advice
_ It is also undeniable that there
are concerns being expressed within the profession about how effectively
local clinical governance
and national regulation work together. This mirrors the GMC’s own
assessment and will help to inform our future activity. We expect to
make this an annual tracking survey in order to measure how far improvements
in our own and other regulators’ policies have impacted on the
public’s confidence in the profession and its regulation.”
News is included
on this website to inform visitors about current health issues, but not
to endorse
any particular view or activity. Material in this news item
was first released by the General Medical Council (GMC) on 14th
September 2005. For further information, please visit their
website using the link below. |
