GPs attract disproportionately large number of complaints

GPs were the subject of more than half the complaints to the General Medical Council in 2010, despite representing only a quarter of registered doctors in the United Kingdom, new data from the regulator show.

GPs were also most likely to have their complaint reach a fitness to practise panel: 37% of doctors who appeared before a panel in 2010 were GPs.

However, nearly half (45%) of complaints against GPs were closed immediately on the basis that the alleged concerns would never raise a question about fitness to practise, as were around 50% of complaints against all doctors.

Patients are more likely to see their GP than any other type of doctor, so these findings aren’t surprising, said Niall Dickson, chief executive of the GMC. “I also suspect that this may have something to do with the fact that in an institution like a hospital some of those complaints will be managed out by the hospital and they won’t reach the GMC,” he said. “Patients don’t think they have an immediate institution to go to for perhaps the less serious complaints against GPs, hence why more of them are rejected by us or sent back locally to be dealt with by the PCT [primary care trust].”

The number of fitness to practise cases rose overall in 2010, up by 24% from 2009. The GMC investigated one in 70 of all registered doctors (3540 of 239 270) last year and struck off 73 (less than one in 3000). A further 106 doctors were suspended for up to a year.

Men were complained about more than women in 2010: the 58% of registered doctors who are men accounted for 75% of complaints. The top three areas of concern in fitness to practise complaints last year were clinical investigations or treatment; respect for patients; and communication with patients.

An increase in awareness of fitness to practise issues among medical managers might be partly responsible for the increase, said Mr Dickson. “I think there has been over the past few years a real improvement in medical management. I think people are becoming more aware of the need to manage and support their medical workforces in a more professional way,” he said. “We also get more referrals when the GMC’s profile is higher—patients are just a bit more aware of us.”

Revalidation may also have a role, as managers are forced to deal with any concerns they may have about doctors in their area. “People have got to sort out doctors who they may have been worried about for a while but haven’t done a great deal about, and all that is for the good,” said Mr Dickson. “In the longer term with revalidation I hope that the number of complaints to us may go down as the problems are spotted earlier, because there is a good system in place for monitoring doctors, and doctors can get the help and support they need so they don’t end up with us, although that might take some time.”

• The full 2010 data on fitness to practise are available in the GMC’s report State of Medical Education and Practice in the UK at www.gmc-uk.org/publications/10471.asp.