ABSTRACT
Introduction About 227 000 doctors are licensed to practise by the General Medical Council (GMC). While only a very small proportion of practitioners get into difficulties, the impact of these difficulties can be great, both for individual patients and their families, and for the healthcare resources the consequent action consumes. The challenges faced by medical directors in managing practitioners in difficulty are among the most taxing, time-consuming and stressful aspects of their role. This chapter sets out an approach to the management of doctors in difficulty based on a decade of experience of the National Clinical Assessment Service (NCAS) in dealing with over 6500 cases referred to it by medical directors and others.
