Clinical quality should be put at the centre of care

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7350.1398

BMJ 2002;324:1398 ( 8 June )

Letters

Clinical quality should be put at the centre of care

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EDITOR $---$ The multiplicity of recommendations of the non-medical report into the performance failures of the heart surgeons atBristol Royal Infirmary¹ prompts Coulter to repeat the slogan"put patients at the centre."² The primary issue $---$ that of poorclinical practice going unchecked $---$ has again been obfuscated. Thefailure of clinical self regulation caused the serial disastersat Bristol; smothering this uncomfortable truth risks itsremedy.

Coulter says that openness and empathy should be shown to patients after medical errors have occurred. Alas, the problem ofgetting doctors to admit that an error has occurred is more pressing.The notion that all doctors will now openly divulge their error,even if aware of it, is unlikely. Motorists seldom drive to policestations and confess to bad driving, so when their bad drivingis seen they are stopped and the transgression brought to theirnotice. Processions of disasters such as occurred . . . [Full text of this article]

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After Bristol: putting patients at the centre • Commentary: Patient centred care: timely, but is it practical?: Angela Coulter and Nick Dunn
BMJ 2002 324: 648-651. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]