In its report, ‘Getting it right when things go wrong: the role of the medical expert’, published this week, the MPS, which supports the interests of healthcare professionals, said medical expert reports currently focus on scrutinising individuals and tend to scapegoat doctors and other healthcare professionals.
It wants the wider context of organisational or system failures included in expert reports as standard, and has called on the General Medical Council to set this out in its guidance for doctors, Good Medical Practice.
Dr Rob Hendry, MPS medical director, said: ‘Adding this requirement into the Good Medical Practice guide would reinforce it and empower doctors, many of whom believe their expert reports must focus solely on the individual.
‘The GMC is currently consulting on updates to this key guidance to ensure it is fit for future practice, so there is an opportunity to make this important change swiftly.’
Dr Hendry said: ‘In clinical negligence claims, coroner, criminal and regulatory cases, the standard a doctor will be measured against is set to a very large extent by the medical expert witness―it is a crucial role.
‘In giving an opinion on whether or not the care provided by a doctor has fallen short of a reasonable standard, it would seem fair to the doctor that the medical expert considers all relevant circumstances. In reality, patient harm arising from medical error is rarely attributable to the actions of a single individual. Inadequate staffing levels, lack of resources, or faulty IT systems are just some issues which can contribute to adverse incidents. Doctors confront these issues every day and have little influence over them.’
