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I guess, it is the distance to the GP's surgery from one's home and/or work palce which generally dictates the choice of practice.It is most unlikely that performance ratings based on the NHS's current criteria have any significant impact when choosing a GP. Hence, doctors' leaders should not worry too much about this issue.
However, what matters most to a patient is a GP's clinical competence and personal qualities.Only such crucial information will help patients make an informed judgment when choosing a GP.So the fact that patients can now submit their view on GPs should be welcomed as it would eventually form a wider database which could be formally analysed to ascertain the clinical competence and personal qualities of relevant doctors.Nevertheless,given this is a new way of gathering patient-feed back--it is bound to cause some difficulties--to both GPs and the NHS, but that should not deter encouraging patients to express their views prudently and fearlessly.Like many other things, time will tell us the efficacy of this rather novel approach to rating GPs.
Patients Should be Encouraged to Express Views About GPs
I guess, it is the distance to the GP's surgery from one's home and/or work palce which generally dictates the choice of practice.It is most unlikely that performance ratings based on the NHS's current criteria have any significant impact when choosing a GP. Hence, doctors' leaders should not worry too much about this issue.
However, what matters most to a patient is a GP's clinical competence and personal qualities.Only such crucial information will help patients make an informed judgment when choosing a GP.So the fact that patients can now submit their view on GPs should be welcomed as it would eventually form a wider database which could be formally analysed to ascertain the clinical competence and personal qualities of relevant doctors.Nevertheless,given this is a new way of gathering patient-feed back--it is bound to cause some difficulties--to both GPs and the NHS, but that should not deter encouraging patients to express their views prudently and fearlessly.Like many other things, time will tell us the efficacy of this rather novel approach to rating GPs.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests