Why is U.K. medicine no longer a self-regulating profession? The role of scandals involving "bad apple" doctors (November 2011)

Summary

The paper from Mary Dixon-Woods and colleagues explains how a series of medical scandals in the UK from the mid‑1990s onward undermined the long‑standing system of professional self‑regulation in medicine. While the collegial model worked for most doctors, it failed to deal with “bad apples,” and weak NHS administrative systems didn’t compensate for these gaps. Public anger, changing social attitudes, and growing political and managerial pressures transformed these scandals into a powerful driver for reform.