The UK government has set out more details on how it will be introducing five-yearly MOTs for doctors. Last year the government committed itself to bringing in a system of re-licensing 150,000 doctors to test their basic competence. GPs and consultants will also face specific testing to see if they can continue in their specialities.
The new system will be drawn up and piloted over the next 18 months. The changes are the biggest shake up of the profession in 150 years. Critics have been calling for a new system for years, pointing out that an airline pilot has to face up to 100 assessments over their career while doctors have none.
The new system is called revalidation, and contains two strands. Re-licensing will apply to all doctors and will be based on a strengthened annual appraisal process in which patients are likely to have an input. Re-certification will only be imposed on the most senior doctors.
The programme will start from 2009 and 2010 in England, although timings could differ elsewhere in the UK.
Sir Liam Donaldson, chief medical officer, said: “At the moment, we rely on trust - and that is right - but we want to underpin that with more objective evidence.”
And he added as well as “weeding out the bad doctors”, the system was being designed to improve the standards of all those practising.
Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association, said “almost all doctors already went through an annual appraisal, which examined their continuing education, and prescribing habits. The new system would take this a stage further, but while it was important to demonstrate to patients that doctors were keeping up to date, it was also vital that the assessments did not become too burdensome.”
He added: “We are anxious to see that any system is proportionate, that it does not take doctors unduly away from their patients, and that it is fair to doctors.
“But in principle we support the idea that doctors should be looking to improve themselves.”
