To want MNHQ to get rid of the link to 'I want great care'?

[sallysparrow157]

It's an awful awful website. It is not moderated or validated. Doctors at times have to do things that patients don't like (ie sectioning someone mentally ill, not prescribing methadone for someone who is still using heroin as some extreme examples but even things like not giving antibiotics for a viral infection or not referring someone to something inappropriate), this doesn't make them bad, in fact it makes them better doctors than someone who will do something they think is wrong just to keep the patients happy. However, anyone who has been annoyed by their doctor can post on this site and write whatever abusive things they like and there is no way for the doctor involved to respond.
It is not kept up to date - there are doctors who have been entered as the wrong speciality, doctors down as still practicing who have retired and doctors who have actually been entered on the site after their own death. Relatives of these doctors have contacted the people who run the site and asked for their details to be removed as it is obviously upsetting to know that anyone who fancies it can write abuse on the internet about your dead father, the people who run the site have not done anything about it.
I am a doctor. I undergo constant monitoring of how I do my job, both the clinical side of things and how I communicate with patients and their families. There is an effective complaints/feedback system so if my patients think I am doing something wrong they have a way of letting me know this so I can improve. So I'm not being precious and not wanting anyone to say horrible things about me. I just think that this website is a good way to spout anonymous hatred online about named professionals, if you are that way inclined, and as it is not updated and contains the details of dead and retired doctors but does not contain the details of many doctors working today (including me and everyone else who works in my department - apparently there are no paediatricians in this city...), it is also completely useless.
I'm very disappointed that mumsnet has chosen to publicise it.

[Househunter]

Totally agree. I guess some people will argue that Mumsnet have a right to take advertising money from whoever they like but I know they ended their contract with somebody recently for ? immoral practice (can't remember who though...)

[porcamiseria]

i dont blame you for feeling this way

[levantine]

Couldn't agree more

[sallysparrow157]

True, it is up to mumsnet who they choose to get advertising money from. However, if somoene came onto mumsnet to have a rant about their doctor because they hadn't prescribed antibiotics for little johnny's cold, saw this link, decided to click on it and post their rant about how Dr Smith is an arsehole who wants small babies to suffer, it's not really helpful to anyone and mumsnet might prefer not to be involved in the ensuing libel case!

[Househunter]

Good point. I admit I was quite shocked when I saw their nasty little green box first appear. Thanks for bringing this issue up.

[PatriciaHolm]

The ad also says " In Partnershup with..." which implies a much closer relationship that just a paid ad, which i would imagine is not the case...At least I hope it isn't!

[twinklytroll]

I don't know the website although teachers can be rated by pupils online. I had a pasting and got rather hot under the collar about it. But it made me reflect on my teaching and I have spent time over the summer planning changes for September. So although it is open to abuse I an glad it exists .

You may have a point about the mumsnet link though.

[LoveBeingIgnoredByMardyBra]

Op if you want them to do something about it then report your post or email them.

[slavetofilofax]

I agree with you completely. It being on Mumsnet gives it far more crdibilty than it deserves.

For the first time ever with the ad banners on here, I considered clicking on that one to see if I could see anything about our GP's, or Doctors my family has had to see at hospital.

Then I decided it would probably worry me needlessly if anything bad had been said when there wasn't much I could do about it anyway. The only thing I can compare it to is trip advisor, but worse. It can only ever give a personal opinion, and while most people are qualified to rate the hotel they stayed in, they are not qualified to make a judgement on a professionals descision.

It makes me think of a GP at my doctors surgery, who regularly sees DH for an ongoing thing that he has, and who I have seen a couple of times over the years. I don't like him at all. We just don't click, and I'm sure I could easily think of bad things to say about him just because I don't like him. I could say I found him unsymapathetic, that I have disagreed with treatment he has prescribed, because if I'm being harsh, I do. But DH thinks he's great, and this doctor deals with dh, and his condition very very well. It would be utterly unfair and morrally wrong for me to publicy write something negative about this doctor who is more than capable of doing a good job.

[MinimallyNarkyPuffin]

Completely and utterly agree. I saw the link a few days ago and was outraged. I was 50:50 about starting a thread because I didn't want to give them the publicity.

[sallysparrow157]

I have reported my post, no response as yet though.
Twinklytroll - I do see what you mean about being able to reflect on what your pupils have said. I also remember being a school child and the rumours and frankly awful things some kids said about teachers - in particular I remember a rumour that a male teacher used to follow year 7 girls down a secluded alley because he was a pervert - he was actually just walking home along the same route he took at the same time every day, often accompanied by his teenage daughters - if this website had been available at the time I'm damn sure someone would have posted something about Mr X being a paedophile!

Similarly with 'I want great care' - I spent some time working in psychiatry a while ago - one of the patients really took against me and a nurse asked why, turns out she was convinced she had seen me in another setting and that I had said some awful things to her. In reality I had not met this patient before and had never set foot in the location she believed the incident had happened in - yet as this lady was quite unwell she genuinely believed this incident had happened - had she posted this on the website who reading it would know that the event didn't happen? (alternatively, in the same job there was a chap who was convinved I had saved his life in the Vietnam war (despite neither of us being alive during it) - he would have written a great review for me I'm sure!)

[NewShooz]

I didn't even know what it was! I've never actually heard of this site before But from what you have said above OP, it just seems awful and wrong!

[Alibabaandthe80nappies]

Bloody hell my mother is on there - and she has been retired for over 3 years!

MNHQ - seriously, what kind of organisation have you hooked up with here?

[sallysparrow157]

Alibaba - if she has been retired for over 3 years she was probably retired before the site was set up... I suggest you ask her to contact the site to be removed and update us when that happens - I don't advise anyone to hold their breath waiting for an update...

As I mentioned previously, as well as retired doctors, this site also contains details of doctors who have passed away which remain on the site despite relatives asking for them to be removed

[LeBOF]

Couldn't agree more- it's disgraceful, and I'm very disappointed that MN has taken their advertising.

Justine- you've let us down, you've let mumsnet down, and most of all, you've let yourself down.

[catsareevil]

I have just had a look at that website, I looked up some of the specialties and GP's in the city I live in. It is very inaccurate. There are very few people named in my city. There are people on the list who dont work in the places it says they do, and who as far as I know never have. They have people in the wrong specialty, there are hospital doctors listed as GPs (but then giving the hospital as their place of work, so even the 'I want great care' people should have been able to see that that is wrong).

I also feel that the basic premise for the website is wrong. A doctor who always does whatever their patients want is probably not doing a very good job, and some specialties will be more prone than others to disappointed patients.

[worraliberty]

I think my head has an automatic advert filter in it

I never even noticed it til you mentioned it...but then again, I only noticed the bloody great 'Grans net' banner last week too.

[Naoko]

It's sneaky too. It's the only ad on MN that's not picked up by my browser's adblocker by default, giving it even more of an air of legitimacy.

[MinimallyNarkyPuffin]

Yes. Their great response to false reports is that doctors can come onto the site and comment. But of course they can't. Because a doctor can't defend themselves by revealing that the patient has mental health issues and feels persecuted, so the consultation they described was bollocks. Or that the patient was annoyed because they wouldn't give them a repeat prescription of cocodamol because they suspected the patient was becoming addicted/drug dependant.

[MinimallyNarkyPuffin]

Or that the patient blames the doctor for a relative's death. Or that the patient isn't actually a patient at all but their neighbour who is angry about the doctor having an extension built that will block their light. Or an ex ...

[thefirstMrsDeVere]

Dont like it.

Dont see the point in it.

Its all very relative. I cant stand a dr at my practice but my OH thinks he is the bomb.

He has actually been very kind to me on occassion and thought my P4thB was the best baby ever. But I wouldnt go to him for a smear test or anything else really.

Most people dont get to chose their Dr anyway. I had to sign up at this practice or go to one a couple of miles away and I live in London. Luckily it has lots of Drs.

Its only fair if the GPs get to say 'I may have been rude to Mrs B but she was a pain in the arse and her little Timmy did NOT need antibiotics for that cold'

[LineRunner]

It's a stupid web site if there is no moderation and no meaningful right of reply.

It's just a free pass for the bitter and the vengeful. And the very stupid. Who can remain anonymous.

[2rebecca]

I think it's a stupid website. It's not like tripadviser when the hotel can reply and has an idea of who the person moaning is, and where criticism is usually specific.
Doctors can't go into details about their patients for confidentiality details and I suspect alot of complaints will be about someone just not liking their doctor's personality much or the doctor not giving them what they want, especially with sick notes and opiates.
If you have a genuine complaint about a doctor go through the proper channels and don't see that doctor again, reregistering or asking for a referral to another consultant.
Complaining anonymously is unfair as there is no real right of reply.

[MinimallyNarkyPuffin]

It's not actually useful even if the comments were 100% reliable.

Dr X might be pleasant and a great listener but that doesn't mean she's a good doctor. Dr Y might appear brusque but might also be shit hot at picking up the early signs of various cancers. The patients wouldn't know. Who would you rather see?

[Upwardandonward]

YADNBU

I'm surprised to see that it seems to be a partnership here