Shared care-responsibilities of the doctors

This paper examines 'duty of care' within the context of the sharing of medical management between the family doctor and the specialist consultant. It reviews the referral system which dictates that the consultant has a direct duty of care to the patient while at the same time, needs to meet the obligations of indirect duty of care to maintain proper communications between consultant and fellow-care givers. It concludes that the proximal responsibility dictates that optimal care must be afforded the patient, with full disclosure, informed consent and adequate risk management. Concurrently, there has to be adequate and reliable communication to provide proper supervisory medical care to complement that offered by the specialist.