The Medical Council’s ethics guide sets out the principles of professional practice and conduct that all doctors practising here are expected to adhere to. A just published and newly updated guide will be of interest to patients and professionals.
Recent surveys of doctors in training have revealed a worrying culture of bullying and the undermining of younger doctors (and medical students) by a minority of colleagues. They will welcome a new section which states that behaviour such as bullying or sexual harassment is unacceptable and below the standards of professionalism expected of doctors.
Also new is a section on "clinical handover". Prompted by cases such as the tragic death of Galway dentist Savita Halappanavar and by World Health Organisation principles on the safe handover of patients, it clearly outlines the tasks expected of a doctor transferring a person's care to another healthcare professional. General practitioners will welcome the guidance that hospital doctors provide "all relevant information promptly" when discharging a patient back to primary care.
Patients increasingly see themselves as consumers when they interact with healthcare professionals. While helping to engender a more equal doctor-patient relationship, a minority of patients interpret consumerism to mean a right to demand specific treatments of doctors. The section on prescribing, which places an onus on doctors to ensure prescribed treatment is safe and evidence-based, also advises that such treatment be “in the patient’s best interests”. At the same time in a section on refusal to treat, doctors are advised to explain their reasons to the patient while offering to have their decision reviewed by another physician. And where a doctor has a conscientious objection to a specific treatment the guide is clear: the doctor must give the patient enough information to enable them to transfer to another doctor to get the treatment they want.
More user friendly than its predecessor, patients and their carers will welcome the increased accessibility of the eighth edition of the Medical Council’s guide to professional practice.