Reactions to the chief medical officer's report

“Professor Sir Liam Donaldson's report offers a realistic possibility that, for the first time, every patient in the United Kingdom will have the guarantee of a good doctor.”¹

This country has a large number of doctors. The idea that every single one of these doctors will be a good doctor is completely unrealistic. No doubt some system of reappraisal and revalidation will emerge eventually from the protracted navel gazing, argument, and counter-argument that have been going on for the past few years. All the words will have been wasted if this system does not mean that far more patients than before will have a good doctor. But to imagine that everyone will have the “guarantee of a good doctor” is akin to the idea of a risk free life.