The Medical Council will adopt a more “compassionate” approach to doctors who are subject to complaint while not compromising professional standards, it has said.
The Council has designed a three-year complaints framework which commenced implementation at the beginning of 2024. As part of this work, it is also “actively facilitating” patient input.
A spokesperson told the Medical Independent: “Over the last seven months, this programme has been based on several principles: Looking at compassion, kindness, and empathy in all correspondence and language across the organisation; wellbeing supports that can be integrated throughout the entire lifecycle of a doctor; and a dedicated contact centre to reduce response times for stakeholders. These initiatives represent the initial steps toward embedding compassion within the regulations of the Medical Council.”
A key target output from the project is the ability to resolve concerns more quickly, according to the Council.
New legislation, which is due to commence later this year, will allow for speedier conclusion of “less serious cases and vexatious complaints”. This will in turn lessen the length of time to complete investigations, according to the Council. Since the easing of Covid-19 restrictions, the Council has seen an increase in the number of complaints and in the referral rate to the fitness to practise committee.
In June, Medical Protection called for urgent reform in how the Medical Council investigates doctors due to the “significant impact” the process has on their mental health. It advocated for a quicker consideration of complaints and improvements in the Council’s communications.
In the organisation’s survey of 114 doctors who had been investigated in the last five years, 77 per cent said the investigation had a detrimental impact on their mental health. Nearly a quarter considered quitting medicine, while one-in-10 either left or retired early. Some 12 per cent reported experiencing suicidal thoughts. Some 70 per cent said the length of the investigation impacted their mental health the most, with some investigations lasting several years. Over half said the tone of the communications from the Council affected them most.
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