Worked scenario
Patients do not distinguish between the clinic and the doctor they saw
In a multi-doctor clinic the weakest session sets the reputation, because a patient attributes their experience to the clinic and not to the individual.
3 min read
Visiting consultants bring their own habits. One runs to time and records thoroughly; another runs late and keeps minimal notes. Both are practising well. The patient sees one clinic.
The record problem
If each consultant records differently, a patient seen by two of them has two partial histories rather than one. The next doctor works from whichever they can find, which is a clinical risk before it is an administrative one.
What to standardise and what not to
Clinical judgement is not standardisable and should not be. Booking, identification, billing and the minimum record are, and they are where the inconsistency actually bites.
Consultants generally accept this readily when it is framed as the clinic's process rather than as a comment on their practice.
Measuring by session
Waiting time, cancellations and no-shows differ enormously between sessions, and a clinic-level average hides it entirely. Session-level numbers make the conversation specific and factual, which is the only way it can be had without giving offence.
What changes
- Consistent booking, recording and billing across all consultants
- One patient record regardless of which doctor was seen
- Session-level view of waiting time and cancellations
- Handover that works when a patient sees a different doctor next time
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