I don't want to inflate your egos too much but it seems to me as a layperson
that those GPs on this list are very concerned GPs. Concerned about all
aspects of the profession, how it is run, how the patient is served, how to
do the job as best as possible while maintaining some semblance of sanity.

The recent thread on the expectation of a patient's relative that medical
records would be available at the weekend and the counters to that argument
only serve to heighten my own disquiet concerning my nearest and dearest who
has just returned from a visit to our GP. He wasn't sure why she was there
because.... her records cannot be found (despite having computers they don't
seem to have patient records on them). He remarked that he thought her
records were missing the last time too, a fortnight ago!

It strikes me that none of you would countenance such a situation. I thought
medical records were supposed to be private documents and not available for
scrutiny by all and sundry. How could such security be maintained if you
don't even know where they are? How can you carry out a consultation without
them?

Someone recently said that patients were not much good at remembering what
advice was given to them, (30-40% was it) when the patient has to remind the
doctor why she is there because no records are available I begin to despair.

When we view the profession through an email list like this are we looking
at the cream because only the cream can be bothered to have enough interest
in the entire profession to take part in meaningful discussions? Or are some
other factors at play?

We know the profession takes a hammering from time to time usually through
the failures of a few but is the standard of doctoring as high as you
yourselves would believe or portray?

I've noticed this tendency for some listservers on other subjects to exhibit
the same skew towards more concerned and thoughtful input. Is it a function
of the Internet that attracts a certain type of mentality?

Graham



                                 
Graham P P Ride, Cybermetrix Ltd.
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