A new NHS website allowing patients to rate their surgeries is “another stick for the Government to beat doctors”, GPs said.

A new feature on the NHS Choices website allows patients to post praise or criticism about a surgery where they have received care.

But doctors in Oxfordshire have said the scheme could be open to abuse and become an outlet for potentially damaging personal comments.

Dr Shelley Hayles, who practices at West Bar Surgery in Banbury, criticised the new feature, which the Government hopes to introduce in July.

She said: “This is yet another stick for the Government to beat doctors with. If someone has a gripe it needs to be sorted.

“We encourage patient feedback, but we need to know how our patients feel, not have it stuck out in the middle of nowhere.

“Whatever people say, we are doctors. We do want to help our patients and this is not the way.”

Patients have been able to rate hospitals on the website from one to five in categories such as cleanliness and how well staff worked together.

Dr Neil Bacon, of Shipton-Under-Wychwood, a renal specialist at the Churchill Hospital, in Headington, sparked outrage among doctors earlier this year when he launched website iwantgreatcare.org, which allowed the public to give doctors individual reviews.

He said: “This is the future of the NHS. A patient-led service where doctors are answerable to their patients.

“Everyone thought I was mad when I did it, but then people thought the stethoscope was a mad creation when it was first invented.

“The only place where they may have shot themselves in the foot is by not adding a function whereby people can rate individual doctors.”

The Department of Health hopes surgeries will be rated in a similar way to the hospital review site, which has been running since April.

A spokesman added: “This will drive improvement.

“Services will not want their communities to receive negative feedback.”

But Dr Oliver Sharpley, from Burford Surgery was concerned the website would not give an accurate reflection of each surgery.

He said: “The thought of it doesn’t threaten me, but there is the risk of a lack of balance in the comments.

“I can imagine people will only feel moved to make a comment if they have a gripe with the service they received. We could find ourselves in a situation where we have to ask patients who have been happy with their service to log on and leave a nice comment to balance it out.”

Dr Joe McManners, who practices at Manor Surgery, Oxford, gave the new system a cautious welcome.

He said: “If it’s not made personal and is used responsibly and monitored I think it could be a good thing and actually be quite useful.”

awilliams@oxfordmail.co.uk