| This is the contents of an email sent to the accrediting agency following an "accreditation" visit 2 weeks ago. I will never take part in the process again. I am writing to advise you of my complete disgust at the accreditation visit yesterday at the practice where I now work as a contractor. I cannot recall feeling so degraded in my own place of work, so prostituted in the course of of my daily duties as I felt during the "doctor" interview yesterday. It was my own doing to the extent that I should never have allowed the interview to take place. However, as the senior doctor and former owner of the practice, I felt some obligation to assist the new owners in gaining access the PIP. This, to my observation, is about the only value now left in a process which is so distorted from my understanding of its original intent as to be unrecognisable. I object in principle to a process whereby an organisation purporting to accredit the facilities of a practice thinks it has the right to intrude into matters which are not of its business. The manner in which I conduct my medical practice is the business of my college, ACRRM, the Medical Board of Queensland, Medicare Australia as the funding agency and my patients. It has absolutely nothing to do with anybody else. I suppose I am most upset at allowing my principles to be so compromised; it won't happen again. Specifically: 1) When it was made clear that I found the questions inappropriate and offensive, your accreditor offered only the option of penalising the practice by failing its accreditation; this to me was nothing short of coercion and his questions were answered under duress 2) Your accreditor, was in my view, completely insensitive to the ethical dilemma in which I found myself 3) Your accreditor presumed he had the right to instruct me in the manner in which I conduct my practice notwithstanding that he is not a member of my college, notwithstanding that I had already made it clear to him that I found this intrusion into the manner of my practice unethical. 4) Your accreditor assumed he had the right to trawl through the medical records of my patients but I do not recall giving my consent, nor were my patients consulted for their consent. None of the above is required to establish whether or not a practice is providing the facilities for the practice of quality medical care. The quality of delivery of medical care is not the business of facility accreditors. Nowhere have I seen evidence that the absurd level of proscriptive activity now apparently required of this accredititation process has made one iota of difference to patient outcomes. I have today been forced to advise staff to "undo" several absurd instructions, the consequences of which "appeared" following the "accreditation" visit. These changes would have compromised the safe and efficient delivery of care to my patients in our surgery and I am not prepared to compromise the care of my patients simply because someone visiting our practice for half a day insists that he knows better than we do how our systems operate within our practice. I believe that accreditation as it is now and the RACGP are fundamental components of the dumbing-down and de-professionalisation of general medical practice. I choose not to be a party to this. I therefore withdraw my consent to participate in the process. My name is to be removed from all documentation associated with the "accreditation" which took place yesterday. All consent to access information pertaining to my professional activity with my patients is withdrawn. Please take whatever action is required to achieve the above; I would appreciate your advice that this has been carried out. Alex Dr Alexander G Bennett Pomona Qld 4568 Australia On 09/08/2006, at 11:31 PM, Wal Tracey wrote: If the College, ADGP, Divisions took the time to talk to GPs they would find that the views expressed by Richard & myself and those of Alex and Horst ( the Death of Individual Responsibility) regarding Divisions Accreditation etc are commonplace. |
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