Note: The GMC held this consultation to seek views on new draft guidance, Good Management Practice: guidance for all doctors. At the same time, the GMC is also seeking views on two pieces of supplementary guidance:
- Raising and acting on concerns about patient safety; and
- Writing references.
Background: The General Medical Council (GMC) issues guidance to doctors on the standards of conduct and ethics expected of them by patients, the public and the profession. It regularly reviews its ethical guidance to ensure that it is up to date and fit for purpose.
The GMC’s core guidance Good Medical Practice (2006) sets out the principles of good practice and the standards expected of all doctors registered with the GMC. Good Medical Practice is supplemented by a range of more detailed guidance covering specific issues, including consent, confidentiality, raising concerns and conflicts of interests. The GMC's guidance is on its website www.gmc-uk.org/guidance/index.asp
The new guidance, Good Management Practice replaces Management for doctors was published in 2006. The new guidance is for all doctors, not only those who have formal management responsibilities. Each section of the guidance is split into two sections:
- The duties and principles that apply to all doctors
- The additional responsibilities that may only apply to some doctors, for example doctors with management or leadership responsibilities
The guidance sets out the wider responsibilities of doctors in the workplace, including in relation to employment issues, communication and team-working, planning, using and managing resources, raising and acting on concerns and participating in service delivery and improvement.
COMMENTS ON GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL
CONSULTATION ON GOOD MANAGEMENT PRACTICE: GUIDANCE FOR ALL DOCTORS - RAISING AND ACTING ON CONCERNS ABOUT PATIENT SAFETY AND WRITING REFERENCES
The Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh (the College) is pleased to respond to the General Medical Council’s consultation on Good Management Practice: guidance for all doctors. The College welcomes the publication of this document. It is a valuable addition to the existing GMC guidance, and is presented in a clear, concise and accessible way. It deals with topical, albeit longstanding, issues which were urgently in need of explicit professional guidance, such as writing references.
The document also takes a helpful approach in outlining differences between responsibilities for all doctors, and those in roles where an additional management burden falls.
There are however a number of points which the College would like to raise at this stage:
Employment: In general this section does not adequately identify and address the specific responsibilities and needs of locum doctors. For example, the induction requirements and responsibilities are different for locum and permanent members of staff.
Commissioning: On page 6, paragraph 3b, it might be beneficial to clarify that the term “commissioning” is not used in the same way in England as it is used in Scotland and Wales regarding healthcare. A more inclusive term might be “commissioning/planning”.
NHS Constitution: the NHS Constitution is referenced on p.18 of the document in footnote 1. It would be helpful to state here that the NHS Constitution applies to England only.
Record keeping: On page 15, paragraph 79, reference is made to responsibility for record keeping. Specific mention is made of financial and management records. However, this could be supplemented with human resource records which are of an equally sensitive nature.
Working with colleagues: In this and later sections, there is no emphasis on undertaking training and development to ensure that doctors possess qualities such as leadership and communication skills. Although this is mentioned in the resources section, it is worthy of reiteration as it is necessary for all doctors to possess these skills, and even more so for those doctors in specific leadership or management roles.