Dr Neil Bacon

Raptors

I have always been uneasy about Doctors.net.uk. I do not visit it often and I rarely read the forums. NHS BLOG DOCTOR articles are sometimes mentioned in the chat rooms and whilst, like any blogger, I am grateful for the increased traffic, I don't usually follow up any comments. It’s a bit ostrich-like, I know. And it means that sometimes I miss the start of important medical stories.

There is nothing like a good bitch over a good pint about matters medical and that is what goes on in the Doctors.net.uk forums. Trouble is, the forums are not as private as members think. I know a lot of medical journalists and, believe me, it is not difficult to get into Doctors.net.uk despite the apparent professional security.

Bitching over a pint is one thing. But some of the serious issues that come up in Doctors.net.uk would be better aired in public. A lot of the comments made are deeply offensive about other doctors, about colleagues – nurse specialists in particular – and about patients. Easy to do that in "private" when no one can answer back. I am outspoken about dumbing down, and the damage that nurse specialists and HCPs are doing to the NHS. Yes, I write pseudonymously, but I write in public about the NHS as I see it. I represent no one but myself and I print, without censorship, all comments I receive, however critical they may be. I am more comfortable doing that in a public forum. If you think I am outspoken about certain issues, you would not believe the vitriol and poison that permeates some of the Doctors.net.uk forums.

Because I do not often visit Doctors.net.uk I am today late onto a very important story which has already been well covered by the Ferret and by the Jobbing Doctor. The story concerns the activities of Dr Neil Bacon who was one of the founders of Doctors.net.uk.

Dr Neil Bacon

He has just set up some medieval stocks into which he is going to insert the British medical profession.



The idea is simple. Want to slag off your doctor? Send your comments to Neil, and he will print them here. You will remain anonymous. Only the doctor will be named. The site is up and running. Dr Richard Pullinger at the John Radcliffe in Oxford is already rated:

Was really kind and patient when he supervised treatment of a nasty injury. Reassured us and explained everything. (I want great care)

Well done, Richard. All good stuff. Wonder why you only got 94% for listening? Other doctors scored 100%. Please do better next time. 

How do you submit comments and do doctors mind? Neil Bacon has drawn up some rules:

Will my doctor know I wrote about them?
All ratings and reviews are anonymous. The only way your doctor will know you wrote about them will be if you include something in the review that identifies you. If you would like your doctor to know what you are writing about them, you can include your name in your review.

What do doctors think of iWantGreatCare?
It varies! A few don’t like it, but far more have enthusiastically welcomed the idea. The whole area of direct patient feedback is new and for some doctors this is very challenging. However all good doctors want to know what their patients think about them so they can improve and continue to build trust and confidence with their patients. Doctors are already using iWantGreatCare to help in this, and are encouraging all their patients to rate their care.

I objectively believe this is damaging to doctors, can't you just drop this whole idea?
Respectfully, no. It is clear from the evidence base that effective communication improves clinical outcomes, improves patient satisfaction, reduces the risk of medical errors and reduces the risk of litigation. The evidence also clearly reports patients can effectively judge doctors' communication skills to this effect. If you are aware of any peer-reviewed evidence that contradicts this summary, please email details to adminservices@iwantgreatcare.org. If you are fixed in your belief that iWantGreatCare is damaging to doctors, please consider that iWantGreatCare is advised by a range of respected doctors and the emerging requirements for revalidation make patient ratings of your care fundamental to the measurement of your work. It is also clear, even with superficial knowledge of medical history, that this is not the first and will certainly not be the last new way of working that is challenging for some doctors.

The Ferret and the Jobbing Doctor have already covered this in detail, but there is more, much more to be said. For starters, the comments are all to be anonymous. Why? If you have something worth saying about your doctor in public, why not put your name under it? How can Neil Bacon possibly know that any criticisms made are valid?

Look at what is already happening on the site, with this utterly disgraceful ad hominen attack on a doctor who is not able to defend himself.  There are always two sides to a story, never more so than when there is a psychiatric problem. This poor doctor cannot defend himself without breaking patient confidentiality. Disgraceful! Fortunately, some of the doctor's colleagues are defending him, and it is not difficult to infer what is probably going on here. Patients with mental illness do not forfeit their right to medical confidentiality, however demanding and pushy their relatives may be.

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And what exactly is going on now, Dr Bacon? Some supportive comments were made about this doctor, but now they have disappeared. Without explanation. Why is that, Dr Bacon? Compare what is appearing now, with what was on the site earlier today when I first visted (and furled) it. This morning you were rating this doctor as "good" at 75%. You are now rating him at 0%. That is a career destroyed over Sunday lunch. You can't play with peoples' professional careers like this. You are a disgrace, Dr Bacon.

Why is Neil Bacon doing this? Why did Neil Bacon leave medicine? To make a fast buck, maybe. But I wonder if his reason for leaving was anything to do with this? You see, Dr Neil Bacon's web site is not even an original idea. RateMDs.com have been in the business for a long time. Long enough to have rated Dr Neil Bacon.  And it was thumbs down. He scores 1.8 out of a possible 5.0 That means he was a pretty crappy doctor, or that is what the people who read the site will think. It's all there on the Internet and I have furled it just in case it mysteriously disappears.

RateMDs.com looks at Dr Neil Bacon

• Unable to answer simple questions in a timely manner, ridiculous concept of what makes great care.
  
• Rather disappointing response to questions he was asked, very long delay in getting in touch. Seems not to be sensitive to colleagues concerns
  
• Rating Dr Neil Bacon

Maybe the world of nephrology was saved when Neil decided to be a business man. So, come on Neil, are you suing RateMDs.com or does the cap fit? Do tell.

The internet geeks out there may receall that Dr Neil Bacon became very angry, indeed litigious, a few years ago when a scurrilous writer set up a spoof website with a name similar to Doctors.net.uk. and used the site to make satirical remarks about the staff of Doctors.net.uk. Neil in particular did not like being compared to a "raptor" or a "dipstick". He was vindicated, but do please read the judgement as revealed by Rita (see below). It's a joy:

The Complainant is an English company whose primary business is the operation of an internet portal for members of the medical profession. Its principal URL is www.doctors.net.uk, and the URL www.doctors.org.uk also links to the site....

I have been told very little about the Respondent. She is a doctor, and registered the site under the name “KarmaWorks”. Material published on various sites with which she appears to be connected suggests that she is something of thorn in the side of the medical establishment. (Boy, they don't know the half of it)

The Complainant asserts that this is the purpose of the site; I have no doubt that the Respondent believes that the text is “fair criticism”, but in my view, on any objective reading, the descriptions of identified professional individuals as (for example) “infamous”, “dipstick”, “side kick”, “raptor like”, of doubtful fitness to advise parents and “poodle” cannot sensibly be viewed as anything but derogatory at the very least. (Doctors.net.uk v Dr Rita Pal)

Well done, Neil. No doubt you will be furious to see that another scurrilous writer has set up another spoof website called I want great bacon

Welcome to I Want Great Bacon
IWantGreatBacon is committed to providing a wonderful service for the members of the public. By rating and reviewing your bacon, you will improve the quality of the bacon for everyone else. You can recommend your bacon to other bacon lovers worldwide. Please use the list of bacons on the right to start rating! (I want great bacon)

This is satire, Neil. There is no mention of raptors, or dipsticks. Just a bit of fun. Hope you are not going to sue. But I digress. Back to serious matters.

Some of Neil Bacon’s behaviour at Doctors.net.uk was controversial. Readers of the wonderful Fishgoth will recall that Fishgoth was banned from Doctors.net.uk when he pointed out to them, by demonstration, that their site security left much to be desired. He successfully joined three times under the names of Liam Donaldson, Hilary Jones and Evan Harris. You have to laugh. For this “offence” he was banned from the site for six months. Fishgoth has never liked Doctors.net.uk for the following reason:

Like many DNUK members, I felt upset that the website had sold member information to the Conservative party, an organisation I deeply loathe. I also felt that when the questions were asked on the fora as to why this information had been sold, there was no official response. To my knowledge, there still hasn't been. I accept that posting the aforementioned photograph was not an acceptable protest in the eyes of those who own the website. (Fishgoth)

Finally, Fishgoth demonstrated that Neil Bacon has no sense of humour by posting a clearly “doctored” composite photograph on a Doctors.net.uk forum purporting to depict Neil, dressed in a basque, having sexual intercourse with a Land Rover. Definitely from the “spanker” Molsey school of satire, but you have to laugh. Don’t you? Dr Crippen did.

There are more serious points to be made about Dr Bacon and who better to make them than Rita Pal, the leading British NHS whistleblower.

The problem with Dr Neil Bacon is this. He thinks everyone likes him…
Rita Pal on “Iwantgreatcare.org”

Let me finish with a quote from The Jobbing Doctor, upon which I cannot improve:

To say that Neil Bacon is somewhat unloved in the profession is an understatement. He is regarded as a pariah, and this site is thought to be a great opportunity for any cranks, or disaffected whingers to be able to destroy the reputation of any doctor, without any real recourse to comeback.
The Jobbing Doctor (Bacon and Tripe)

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A reader says Iain Dale was on the BBC News channel late last night approving of Bacon's website. Surely not. Did anyone else see him?