Consultant guide - user guide

Why use this guide?

This guide tells you about the consultants who can help with your medical problem.

You can't go directly to a consultant. You will have to go to your GP first, and then your GP will refer you to a consultant. You can use the information in this guide when you talk to your GP.

What is a consultant?

A consultant is a senior doctor who has had in-depth training in certain diseases, parts of the body or types of treatment. There are different types of consultant:

  • surgical (who carry out operations)
  • medical (who treat patients using medicine or therapy)
  • technical (who use specialised equipment to find out what's wrong with you)

How can I find a consultant suited to my needs?

Dr Foster asks consultants to declare their areas of expertise and where declared, they are listed as Specialist areas and Special interests in a consultant's profile. An algorithm in our database maps all the areas of expertise to our list of conditions and procedures, scoring each relationship according to its relevance.

The algorithm, created by an experienced clinician, is unique to the Dr Foster Consultant Guide.

Additionally, our database lets you search for a consultant by name.

What are Clinical Excellence Awards?

Clinical Excellence Awards (CEA) recognise and reward NHS consultants and academic GPs who perform over and above the standard expected of their roles. Awards are given for quality and excellence, acknowledging exceptional personal contributions. To be considered for an award, a consultant will have to demonstrate a commitment to delivering high-quality patient care and to the continuous improvement of the NHS. The scheme is administered by the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards (ACCEA). It is managed on the Committee’s behalf by a full-time secretariat that is currently part of the Department of Health.

There are 12 Levels of award. Levels 1-8 are awarded locally and Levels 9-12 (formerly B, BPLUS, A, APLUS but now Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum) are awarded nationally. ACCEA and its regional sub-committees recommend individuals for Levels 9-12. Applicants for Levels 1-9 are recommended by employer-based committees.

The awards are judged on:

  • clinical skills
  • teaching skills
  • how well the consultant manages and develops their service

Treating patients is only part of why a consultant is given a Clinical Excellence Award. So consultants without an Award may still be very good at treating patients.

Only a few consultants have Gold and Platinum Awards. Consultants with these awards are leaders in their field.

For more information about how Clinical Excellence Awards work, click here to go to the website of the Advisory Committee on Distinction Awards in England.

Where does the consultant work?

We tell you which NHS and private hospital each consultant works at.

What is meant by 'Best Match'?

Consultants are asked to declare their areas of expertise which are recorded as specialist areas and special interests within their profile. These 'areas of expertise' are then mapped against the list of conditions/procedures selected when searching. Matching results are returned.

Using a search for a hip replacement as an example:

  • A three-box match means that a consultant has specified hip replacement as an area of expertise.
  • A two-box match means that a consultant has not specified the top scoring match - i.e. hip replacement - but has specified other areas of interest that are immediately relevant, e.g. hip surgery, joint replacement.
  • A one-box match means that a consultant has recorded an area of expertise that relates generally to the search term - for example, general orthopaedic surgery.

Where there is no match the search defaults to consultants working in the specified specialty, ranked by distance from the postcode specified in the search.

How can I find out more?

If you have further questions, email us at consultant@drfoster.co.uk