Majority of GPs concerned about being sued following a critical online patient review - MDU survey
Medical professionals are becoming increasingly concerned by negative reviews published on online rating sites according to new research published by the UK's leading medical defence organisation.
The Medical Defence Union (MDU) surveyed 81 members and found that:
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100 per cent of hospital doctors and foundation year or training grade professionals were worried about being sued following a negative review
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63.6 per cent of GPs were also concerned about being sued by a patient who posted a critical review
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80 per cent of foundation year or training grade professionals felt that online reviews posted by patients can be detrimental to the doctor/patient relationship
Of those surveyed, the MDU discovered that GPs were the only medical profession to deal with the negative review directly with the patient (40 per cent). Also, the MDU found that members were more likely to seek advice from colleagues (78.6 per cent of all respondents) or family and friends (35.7 per cent of all respondents) then their medical defence organisation (7.1 per cent of all respondents).
Dr Sissy Frank, medico-legal adviser at the MDU commented:
“At the MDU, one of our core services is to provide expert medico-legal advice to our members, who can call us any time they find themselves facing a difficult situation such as when a patient has posted a negative review. Calling our advice line is free, treated in the strictest of confidence and does not affect future subscriptions.”
“We speak to tens of thousands of members every year so we can often pre-empt the kinds of problems that can cause members worry. Consequently, we encourage them to call for advice and support as early as possible.”
You can find out more about dealing with online criticism here:
https://www.themdu.com/guidance-and-advice/guides/dealing-with-online-criticism
