Hospital doctors may have to reveal all

By KATHERINE HOBY

Patients will be able to check a hospital doctor's qualifications under a plan aimed at restoring public confidence in medical specialists.

But the idea of registering credentials has struck resistance from some practitioners.

A proposed Health Funding Authority database would help to identify poor performance by medical practitioners in public hospitals and allow patients to check if a specialist's skills are up to date.

Credentials Advisory Committee chairman Dr Robert Logan said a working party had put together a draft document on "credentialling" medical practitioners. One proposal was for a national database where patients could check the credentials of senior specialists.

The service could be expanded to encompass doctors and other medical staff, he said.

Some medical personnel had reacted with alarm. "There is a sensitivity that this is going to be a policing-type activity," said Dr Logan.

But "the main benefit has to be for the protection of the patient but if it's going to work it will work to protect doctors and organisations, too."