Progress of the HDA

Marius Van Oldenborgh gave a short progress report at the Independent Doctors Federation’s October Meeting in Lisbon as follows:

“The aim of the Honorary Doctors’ Association (HDA) is, as you know, to stand as a formal network of practitioners who offer unpaid medical help.

Patients will gain a new approach to their complaint in the hope of a quicker and more effective solution.  Either by means of a phone call or through subsequent consultation and examination, they will receive an independent, unbiased, fresh opinion from a member of the independent sector.

Last year, just prior to our meeting at St Petersburg, the HDA, after considerable correspondence, achieved charity status, and was all set to go.  Rebeccah Grant, as secretary of the HDA, came to the meeting to obtain an idea of what we in the IDF were like.  But on returning to London we both met with an astonishing number of setbacks. Rebeccah developed back problems, and her good husband was caught up in the property crash.  My computer, a little old, malfunctioned; my wireless network packed up; and, to top it all, my service provider went bankrupt, leaving my practice unable to access its database.  Fortunately, we all landed on our feet again, but Rebaccah and her husband have had to move to Jersey, which has left Rebaccah in a difficult position.

The dust having now settled, the question is: what have we achieved so far?

First, we now have a website.  As you can see, it has all the various functions that a website should have.

Second, we now have an official accountant.  That may sound tame, but charity book-keeping and accounting, with the intricacies of Gift Aid, have to be carried out meticulously.

Third, as from the 1st of July we began to keep records of patients seen.

Since then 35 consultations have been recorded, and the anonymous data entered on a spreadsheet.

Have we learnt any thing over the past three months?

We most certainly have:

1. My original notion was that all that was needed was just to put two people into  contact, with relevant instructions, and that would be that. Suffice it to say that more than that has to be done. Nevertheless, it is most satisfying work.
2. Most doctors have found the filling in of the anonymous ‘Patient Record’ slips particularly irksome.
3. Although we fully expected ‘HDA patients’ to be pleased about the help they received, the extent of their gratitude amazed us. To say it strikes a chord with patients would be an understatement.
4. Occasional pro bono service comes naturally to us in medicine, but as a public-relations exercise this must be second to none.

What of the future?

This will have two significant aspects:

1.  Management

This will centre on patients, doctors, record-keeping, and dealing with enquiries.  Should you know of any doctors, current or retired, who might like to be involved in any aspect of this interesting and worthwhile work, please don’t hesitate to let me know.

2.  Sponsorship

We have already received sponsorship, for which we are grateful. We will need more, and I’m pleased to say plans for this are well in hand.

In future, should you wish to keep up with the HDA, don’t forget to look us up at:  honorarydoctors.org

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