Main description:

What makes a good doctor? Are there bad doctors out there - and if so how do we protect patients from them? Can we inject more information, more trust and more assured competence into the medical system to solve these problems?

Drawing on his years of dealing with patient concerns, Ron Paterson tackles these important questions. The book makes challenging arguments:

that patients don't demand the sort of information about doctors that they should;
that doctors who feel put upon by information overload, patient demands, complaints and growing requirements from employers, colleges, medical boards and government, will be resistant to any additional regulation of their activity;
that doctors are reluctant to judge problem doctors and prefer the `quiet chat'; And that current law and practice is lax when it comes to checking that doctors remain up-to-date.

Paterson concludes the book with proposals to lift the veil of secrecy, to inform patients better and to revalidate doctors periodically, all key ways we might improve patient care.

The Good Doctor will be prescribed reading for doctors, patients and policymakers-all of those determined to make sure patients get the medical care they deserve.

Contents:

Preface -- Part One: The Good Doctor: the ideal -- Part Two: Problem doctors: part of the reality -- Part Three: The roadblocks: why is change so difficult? -- Part Four: Prescription for change: what can we improve? -- Epilogue -- Select Bibliography -- Acknowledgements -- Index.