Paul Hutchison National Associate Health Spokesperson
31 May 2002
Government's u-turn on dob in doctor plan
The Health Minister's support of a plan for doctors to dob in incompetent colleagues showed her lack of insight and
muddled thinking right from the beginning, says National's Associate Health spokesperson, Paul Hutchison.
The Government has dropped the controversial mandatory reporting plan following strong opposition from health
professionals.
"A major theme of the Bill should be to encourage peer review and continuous quality improvement in a spirit of openness
and trust," says Dr Hutchison.
"The dob in a doctor scheme would only foster mistrust. Can you imagine such a scheme being applied to the whole
workforce? It would be like the Secret Police.
"Today's u-turn on the plan proves Annette King's muddled and illogical thinking from the start," says Dr Hutchison.
Ends