Royal college is forced to retreat on star rating system for GP clinics

doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7555.1410-c

BMJ 2006;332:1410 (17 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.332.7555.1410-c

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Royal college is forced to retreat on star rating system for GP clinics

London Madeleine Brettingham

The Royal College of General Practitioners announced last week that it was suspending talks with the Department of Health after an outcry over an article in The Times (6 Jun, p 1) that claimed that the college was planning to introduce a star rating system for general practices.

The chairman of the college, Mayur Lakhani, said: “In light of the recent feedback we have had and the anxieties that GPs feel, I have today decided to review the project and suspend discussions with the Department of Health.”

Professor Lakhani expressed dismay that the leaks—which claimed that ratings allocated by an expert panel would be displayed outside surgeries on a plaque—made the proposals appear punitive.

Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, welcomed the college’s retreat, saying that the measures were counterproductive and that many doctors felt they had not been consulted.

The Times article described . . . [Full text of this article]

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