Health minister Ben Bradshaw proposes a system for patients where they can comment on the experiences they have when they see their doctor, to be implemented already next year. Somewhat unfortunate, he likens his vision to the rating system of Amazon and Tripadvisor and this seems to alienate the leaders of the British Medical Association, who sees this as a “meaningless popularity” contest” where patients will “slander and praise irresponsibly”. Says chairman Laurence Buckman:

“I think this has everything to do with consumerism and it has not been thought through well. I am happy for people to praise or criticise their doctor, but this is not the way professionals should interact with their patients. It has a great potential to be misleading.”

While I was struck by his defensive approach, I can understand that no GP would enjoy negative comments from patients on the services they provide. But Buckman is equally concerned abut the GPs ability to stay focused on their job and not see this as a “gaming” opportunity where they encourage their patients to leave positive comments to avoid loosing patients.

There is a huge design challenge here. First of all - after reading the article, I’m still asking myself what exactly is the main purpose of the system? Is it to help patients pick a GP they can trust to take care of their health issues? To help the GP to improve? Is it a way for NHS to gather data about the current state of the practices in the UK?

Designing a system that takes all this into account and is capable of providing meaningful feedback to all parts involved needs someone to bring all the different groups together and involve them jointly in the effort. As a patient, what do I really want to know about my doctor? As a GP, what do I want the patients to know about me? If you examine these questions, you will often find that different perspectives often leads to the same goal: “I want to know that my GP is able and willing to help me get better” is not that different from “I want my patients to know that I have the skills and willingness work with them to find a solution to their problems”.  Picking a doctor that is best for me is not always about picking the most popular one - for the system to be a success, it needs to carefully consider all the issues that comes with crowd rating on sites such as Tripadvisor and Amazon. Instead of becoming a popularity show, this tool should aid every patient in finding the doctor that they will communicate best with.

Bradshaw’s big challenge is to get the BMA on his side.  He needs to show them how interacting with patients in such a system can be a huge resource for any doctor.  If they are ready and willing, they are not subject to become “public failures” as much as they will be sitting on an incredible resource of information on to win new patients and improve their existing relationships. This could be a win win for everybody.