Drife writes: “So when they set up new bodies to replace key functions of the royal colleges, who resisted? Not the colleges or faculties, all 27 of them with their 28 opinions.1
The facts are different. The Academy of Medical Royal Colleges unanimously approved an article for publication, which the BMJ published in 2002,2 under my name as chairman of the academy at the time, with the title “De-professionalising doctors.” So all the colleges and faculties could and did agree a single opinion and publicly issued a warning with this striking title.
Simultaneously, the academy gave written advice to the Department of Health, important parts of which were rejected.
Competing interests: DPG was chairman, Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, 2000-2.
References
- 1.Drife JO. Confessions of a collaborator. BMJ 2007;334:640 (24 March.) [Google Scholar]
- 2.Pereira Gray D. De-professionalising doctors? BMJ 2002;324:627-8. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]