Doctors have criticised a Government plan to allow the public to post online reviews of medical care.

When the new NHS Choice website goes live later this year, part of the site will be given over to reviews and performance ratings submitted by patients. However, the idea has been attacked by a doctors' association as 'a gimmick' and complained that it won't be fair to doctors.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, chairman of the British Medical Association's GPs' committee, told Computeractive: "This seems a bit superficial and rather typical of this Government's policy. People tend to go to these things when they have complaints rather than when they are satisfied, so it may tend to favour the complainers rather than those in favour."

The Department of Health has said that the website will encourage doctors and hospital managers to improve their performance if they receive bad reports. A representative of the department said: "The exact specifics are yet to be agreed. It will develop over time to provide a comprehensive resource for patients."

The site is due to launch in summer 2007.

See also:
Government asks patients to rate doctors online