GPs' questions on Supporting Doctors, Protecting Patients

The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) has produced its initial response to Supporting Doctors, Protecting Patients (20 November 1999, p 1319). In the document the chief medical officer for England, Professor Liam Donaldson, proposed a package of measures to tackle the problem of poor performance.

In their response the chairman of the RCGPs' council, Professor Mike Pringle, and the chairman of its patient liaison group, Patricia Wilkie, say that they agree with the content behind the document and support its general aims. But they are concerned that the profession's leaders were not adequately consulted in the preparation of a new policy initiative. They believe that clinical governance and revalidation will ensure that the public can be assured that GPs are fit to practise. They want to know what the relationships are between the new proposals and clinical governance, revalidation, and the General Medical Council's performance procedures. Will the proposals help to promote the pursuit of quality in addition to identifying poor performance?

The college says that the profession needs to know whether the proposed annual appraisals will be primarily …