Brits can review their doctors online

THE UK is to set up a system where patents can review their doctors on an official health service website.

Health Minister Ben Bradshaw reckons that by reading feedback from other patients, people would be better able to decide which doctor they wanted. According to the Guardian the big idea was taken from Amazon where people leave comments and ratings for books.

The site will be moderated so you will not be able to say too much that is interesting. Doctors' representatives say that such sites would descend into a popularity contest rather than providing accurate information about medical skills. The guts of their response is that people are not qualified to tell if they are getting good or bad care. However Bradshaw has ordered the software and it should be ready in 2009.

Bradshaw has seen the system working in a way he likes at the National Health Service's Choices web site which has operated since April. That allowed people to post comments on hospitals, but it would be the first time that the scheme would be extended to GPs. Based on this it does not seem that the doctors have much to fear. Most people seem to give high ratings for the standards of care they got.

Of course those who died or who are too sick due to their doctor leaving something sharp in an intimate part of their anatomy won't be able to comment. µ

L'Inq
AP