LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--New research from Medscape UK examining the care doctors themselves receive from the NHS has found a third (34%) admit they get faster treatment than other patients. The study also found a similar number (33%) who felt they often receive better care. In addition, doctors were more willing to refuse treatment options or insist on a specific course of treatment, with 56% of those surveyed having questioned their doctor’s choices. A total of 826 doctors completed the survey.
Half of doctors (51%) believed that they were ‘often’ or ‘sometimes’ more likely to get unusual courses of treatment, such as not having to wait as long to be moved to the next and better treatment option.
Dr John Whyte, Medscape, commented on the findings: Doctors have a reputation for making the worst patients. What this often means in reality is that doctors have a high health literacy; meaning they understand diagnosis and treatment pathways. Healthcare professionals are able to speak in shorthand, which can inherently press the fast-forward button on treatment decisions.”
More than 1 in 5 doctors (22%) stated they were able to refer themselves to a specialist, skipping the lengthy process of a GP referral. A junior doctor stated that doctors had ‘more investigations and faster referral’ to specialists. One GP commented that she waited three weeks for an MRI for a ruptured ligament and ‘only got this because I personally spoke to orthopaedics to plead my case.’
“Maintaining a healthy NHS workforce is critical in tackling waiting lists, which only get longer when medical staff are off sick. Moreover, while some doctors have reported they receive better care, this view is far from universal,” said Dr Whyte.
An analysis from the British Medical Association shows that around 7.75 million people were waiting for treatment on the NHS as of August this year.1 A 2022 Medscape UK report revealed that more than 9 in 10 doctors (91%) have seen an increase in patients struggling to access medical healthcare services in the last five years. The current Medscape UK report notes that a third (33%) of doctors we surveyed declared that they would ‘often or sometimes’ seek treatment from friends who were also doctors.
The Medscape UK Doctors as Patients Report 2023 is available here: https://www.medscape.com/uk-doctors-as-patients-report-2023
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About Medscape UK Doctors as Patients Report 2023
Medscape surveyed 826 UK physicians between March and July 2023. The demographics of the respondents were:
- Male: 53%
- Female: 44%
- Prefer not to say: 3%
About Medscape
Medscape, a subsidiary of WebMD Health Corp., is the leading source of clinical news, health information, and point-of-care tools for healthcare professionals. Medscape offers specialists, primary care doctors, and other health professionals the most robust and integrated medical information and educational tools. Medscape Education (medscape.org) is the leading destination for continuous professional development, consisting of more than 30 specialty-focused destinations offering thousands of free C.M.E. and C.E. courses and other educational programmes for doctors, nurses, and other healthcare professionals.
About WebMD Health Corp.
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1 British Medical Association. Available at: https://www.bma.org.uk/advice-and-support/nhs-delivery-and-workforce/pressures/nhs-backlog-data-analysis. Accessed September 2023
