BMA combats plans to cut doctor posts

  Plans to change on-call working arrangements and reduce consultant and SAS doctor posts in England health protection teams are being opposed by the BMA and Public Health England’s local negotiating committee. The proposals come in a PHE consultation on health protection funding that outlines plans to reduce the number of consultants and remove posts held by staff, associate specialist and specialty doctors. In its response, the LNC says that while it accepts the need for more efficient use of funding, it has great reservations about reductions in staff and, in particular, the apparent singling out of SAS staff. It says: ‘SAS [doctors] have a valuable skill set, and the proposals offer no valid or coherent rationale to explain why these posts are being deleted. ‘The logical conclusion is that the authors of the consultation paper believe that SAS doctors are of minimal use to [Public Health England].’   On-call review The paper, Local Health Protection Review, follows a strategic review of PHE’s on-call systems and puts forward recommendations including single health protection teams in each regional centre. It also proposes extending on-call working hours from eight to 12 hours and standard category B terms and conditions for all consultants — in which an on-call consultant provides telephone advice to support the team, and/or returns to work later. While ‘fully recognising’ the role served by SAS doctors in public...
Source: BMA News - Category: UK Health Source Type: news