Sunday, June 5 2005 11:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

London: Young Indian female doctors have emerged as Britain's favourite general practitioners, a study indicated today (June 5, 2005).

As against the traditional image of the British family doctor as a serious, be suited, white middle-aged man, the "perfect" general practitioner is his polar opposite - a young, female and Indian doctor, revealed the study published in the Sunday Telegraph'.

The study of hundreds of patients, which asked them to rate doctors on a scale of one to five for perceived expertise, put women doctors - both white and Asian - first in almost all categories, while white male doctors over the age of 50 languished near the bottom.

Female doctors under the age of 35 were judged to have a preferable personal manner, superior technical skills and superior powers of description.

Patients also stated that they felt more at ease with young female doctors giving physical examinations, were more likely to have faith in their diagnoses, and were more likely to follow their medical advice and prescribed treatment.

In most of these categories, age and gender had a greater effect on scores than ethnic origin, but the young, female Asian, particularly Indian doctor, won marginally higher scores than her white female counterpart in every category.

She scored particularly highly for the level of emotional support that she gave patients and the faith that people had in her diagnosis.

The study involved 300 patients attending six general practices in southwest London, who were given photographs of doctors of varied age, sex and ethnic group.

Patients were recruited from a range of ages and backgrounds. More women than men took part, although this is in keeping with men's less frequent attendance of GP surgeries.

Dr Reena Shah, 41, a London GP who came up with the idea for the study, said that coming from a British-Indian background she had often wondered about people's first impressions of their family doctors.

"I didn't have any preconceived ideas, so I was surprised at how well the young female Indian GP did. It could be a 'halo' effect, if somebody likes the look of one aspect of you, such as your looks, they will rate you highly across other areas too."

The study, called "What's In a Face" and to be published in a scientific journal called 'Patient Evaluation and Control', gave white male doctors over the age of 50 an average score of 40 out of 60. Young, white female doctors got 44 while young, Asian (Indian) female doctors received 47.

Dr Rupal Shah, 31, from Pimlico in London, was taken aback to learn that she fitted the "perfect" GP's profile.

"How strange! I had always imagined that an older white male had the most authority. It's very nice to hear, because I have sometimes felt that people look at me and think, 'Ghosh, she's a bit young. Does she really know what she's talking about?'

She suggested that younger GPs' openness to new ideas had contributed to their higher popularity rating. "My appointment times overrun a lot, because I like to discuss the various options available to patients. For the new generation of GPs, work is very much patient-centred. People often expect to be told what to do, especially older patients, but answers are rarely black and white."