No CrossRef data available.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 January 2018
In the medical profession a consultant is a doctor who has attained the capacity for totally independent practice, otherwise known as clinical freedom. Consultants differ from other doctors in the important respect that they have full clinical responsibility (BMA, 1984). The work of the consultant may be audited by his peers, with his full participation, but may not be supervised by one (DoH, 1989a). Thus, whereas the consultant is accountable, administratively, to his employers, in the clinical area, he is not accountable to any other doctors or managers: he is accountable to the General Medical Council for his professional conduct, and, with respect to the diagnosis and treatment of illness, to the patients directly, the patients' relatives, and the law of the land.
eLetters
No eLetters have been published for this article.