MPS opinion: Online check-ups for doctors

By Dr Stephanie Bown, MPS Director of Policy and Communications

The website iwantgreatcare.com was launched as a way for patients to give feedback about their doctor. However, I have serious concerns that it allows unsubstantiated, negative or defamatory comments to be posted that will have a negative effect on a doctor’s practise.

As an organisation, MPS has always promoted and encouraged the local resolution of complaints and concerns, believing that the doctor involved is best placed to be able to provide a full explanation, apology where appropriate and to take on board any learning points raised. It is crucial that patients feel they are able to openly feed back to their doctor about their care.

The launch of the website iwantgreatcare.com allows patients to post both positive and negative comments about their doctor anonymously. The website has been promoted as a means to improve patient care and as an aid to revalidation through multisource feedback. I have serious doubts as to whether this is an appropriate channel for such feedback and whether it will deliver on the stated objective of improving patient care.

I would caution that a website such as this may attract the unbalanced views of a small subsection of patients with extreme opinions. This will undermine the value of the website and lose the confidence of the profession. There is also a serious risk that patients will develop unrealistic expectations based on the views that have been posted on the website.

The website asks patients to assess the skills of their doctor in three areas – interpersonal skills, characteristics and behaviours; none of which are a direct indicator of good clinical competence. The developers of iwantgreatcare.com have sought to reassure doctors that there are mechanisms in place to screen and to remove inappropriate or defamatory comments swiftly.

However, MPS’s early experiences would suggest that these processes are not quite as robust as one would hope. In January, Health Minister Ben Bradshaw MP announced that in 2010 the government is intending to launch an NHS-backed rating system on the NHS Choices website for patients to rate their family doctors’ competence and manner. Although he said the content would be moderated to exclude comments that could identify an individual GP or staff member, it will not be censored to prevent the expression of positive or negative views.

Therefore, I also have significant concerns about how this will work and caution that, without robust mechanisms to ensure that inappropriate comments are blocked and never published, it will not deliver on its stated objective.