MDDUS PROFILE


Summons editor Jim Killgore kicks off


the first in a series of profiles featuring the professionals whose job it is to provide advice and legal support to


MDDUS members. Here he talks with Dr Barry Parker about his role as an in-house medical adviser


On the line


S


EEK out Dr Barry Parker at his desk in the Glasgow office of MDDUS and you will rarely find him off the


telephone in his job providing medico-legal guidance to members or discussing ongoing cases. But just three years ago his main contact with the Union was on the other end of the phone as an occasional user of the advice service. He was then working as a GP partner in a busy practice in Stockbridge in Edinburgh “I was very happy there,” he says. “It was


a really good team and I enjoyed the job. But I’d done clinical work exclusively for almost 20 years and felt the need to try something new.” So in 2009 he applied for an opening at


MDDUS as a medical adviser. He had already gained significant experience working in an advice and support role as a GP appraiser and had also attained an MSc in Primary Care. Out of a strong field of candidates he was appointed to the job and joined an experienced team of professional advisers. “I had a less usual route into the field


than a lot of medical advisers who get their MPhil or Masters first,” says Barry. “But I’m now in my third year of a Masters in Medical Law at the University of Glasgow.” Just like Barry all the professional


advisers at MDDUS are qualified doctors and dentists who come to the role with significant clinical experience supplemented with specialist medico-legal training. MDDUS prides itself on a personalised doctor-to-doctor/dentist-to- dentist service of support and advice. Te Union may exist primarily to provide access to legal support and indemnity for members who find themselves the subject of complaints or claims of clinical negligence but the 24/7 service provided by Barry and the other advisers is an essential element in the proactive risk management philosophy of the organisation. Te prime ethos is to avoid costly and distressing negligence claims or fitness to practise proceedings by providing timely advice to members so that what may be minor issues do not escalate into major difficulties.


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SUMMONS


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