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Occupational Medicine 2008 58(5):323-327; doi:10.1093/occmed/kqn079
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Society of Occupational Medicine. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Doctors' health and fitness to practise: the need for a bespoke model of assessment

John Harrison

Workplace Health and Wellbeing, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS, UK

Abstract Doctors' performance and fitness to practise are attracting increased attention. High profile cases have brought into question the assessment of fitness to practise and the monitoring of professional performance. In the UK, the chief medical adviser for England has proposed strengthening systems to improve the performance of doctors which include addressing problems of ill-health. The behaviour of the impaired physician, or the doctor–patient, presents unique challenges and a review of the various issues highlights the need to address how the medical profession and society deal with the occurrence of illness in doctors. Conditions such as mental ill-health and substance abuse may affect doctors' fitness to practise, but other conditions may also be relevant. This paper will discuss the occurrence of ill-health and the need for a bespoke model of assessment.

Keywords      Assessment; doctors; impaired physician; mental illness; physical illness; physicians; substance abuse

Correspondence to: John Harrison, Workplace Health and Wellbeing, Hammersmith Hospital, Du Cane Road, London W12 0HS, UK. Tel: +44 (0)208 383 1514; fax: +44 (0)208 383 3395; e-mail: john.harrison{at}imperial.nhs.uk


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