Junior doctor thanks public for support
A junior doctor has sent a heartfelt message of thanks to supportive patients who are standing by medics during their dispute with Government.
Writing in the Swindon Advertiser before a two-day strike which saw junior doctors withdraw from hospitals — with consultants and senior medics filling the gaps — Charis Banks (pictured) said industrial action was the ‘last resort’ for staff and thanked the public for sticking by them.
The 34-year-old, who will begin training as a specialist anaesthetist in August, said: ‘As doctors our place is not outside on the picket line, but inside the hospital, t...
Source: BMA News - April 29, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Call to improve armed forces' mental healthcare provision
The BMA has continued to press for greater provision of mental healthcare for military personnel, during the latest reading of the Armed Forces Bill.
The bill, which was debated during its report stage in Lords on Wednesday, saw discussion over two amendments drafted by the BMA and tabled by Labour Party defence spokesperson Lord Touhig.
They included providing a lump sum payment to service personnel upon diagnosis of a mental health condition resulting from service, and a legal obligation on the Government to ensure parity of esteem between mental and physical health.
Lord Touhig said that he backed the BMA’s...
Source: BMA News - April 28, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Make a difference overseas
Doctors wishing to make a difference overseas are invited to take part in this year’s BMA Humanitarian Fund, which is launched today.
Applications are open today and are open to all current NHS employees aiming to take part in a humanitarian medical project between July 2016 and July 2017.
The fund, which last year was increased to £30,000, provides financial support to doctors looking to take part in projects in the developing world.
Operating for more than 10 years, recent projects have included a programme providing treatment to deaf children in Sri Lanka and operations to reverse cleft palates in Kenya.
BMA...
Source: BMA News - April 28, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
'Lift imposition so talks can resume'
The BMA has written to health secretary Jeremy Hunt to restate the firm commitment of junior doctors to resolve the contract dispute through negotiation.
Following two days of industrial action, BMA junior doctors committee chair Johann Malawana reiterated his objective of breaking the impasse over the contract, but said that it was impossible with ‘the threat of imposition hanging over our heads’.
In the letter, Dr Malawana also takes issue with Mr Hunt’s claim that the contract is all but agreed.
He lists a number of unresolved issues, including protection against working excessive hours, the impact of...
Source: BMA News - April 27, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Tweeting their gratitude: juniors thank senior colleagues
Consultants and other senior doctors across England have stepped in to cover shifts and look after patients — while junior doctors take their contract dispute with Government to the picket lines.
Patients, fellow staff and the junior doctors taking industrial action have all paid tribute to the senior medics — who are overwhelmingly supporting the strike — on social media.
The usual hashtags, such as #juniordoctors have been awash with praise and camaraderie, and new slogans such as #consultantcover have also cropped up.
At King’s College Hospital, London, a team of consultants were working a nine-h...
Source: BMA News - April 27, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Junior doctors hold vigil outside DH
Doctors stood in solidarity at a candlelit vigil outside the Department of Health in a display of peaceful opposition to the junior contract imposition.
The vigil organised by junior doctors Rachel Clarke and Julia Prague took place on the eve of a full walk out by junior doctors in England — the first time in NHS history.
The event came the same day that health secretary Jeremy Hunt said he would continue with his plans to impose a new contract, in the face of fierce criticism in Commons for the handling of the dispute.
London-based orthopaedic consultant Nicholas Ferran was among those attending the vigil in a show...
Source: BMA News - April 27, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Junior doctors maintain public support
A majority of the public support junior doctors’ industrial action, a new survey has shown.
An Ipsos MORI poll conducted for the BBC finds 57 per cent of people support the action, without juniors providing emergency cover.
Twenty-six per cent oppose, while 13 per cent said they did not know.
The percentage expressing strong support — 41 per cent — is the same as when people were polled in January and asked about action that included emergency cover.
Anna Quigley, head of health research at Ipsos MORI, said: ‘We’re seeing today that support for the junior doctors is still prevalent among much...
Source: BMA News - April 26, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Junior doctors fully withdraw labour
Junior doctors in England are taking industrial action for the fifth time in their contract dispute with their Government.
For the first time in the history of the NHS, it will involve the full withdrawal of labour between the hours of 8am and 5pm today and tomorrow.
Cover will be provided by senior doctors and other healthcare staff over this period.
As for previous industrial action, the BMA has agreed a joint protocol with NHS England to ensure patient safety in the event of a major unpredictable incident.
The industrial action comes as health secretary Jeremy Hunt dismissed the BMA offer to call off the strikes...
Source: BMA News - April 26, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Non junior doctors guidance for industrial action
The BMA has issued guidance for all non junior doctors — as their colleagues prepare to take industrial action.
The advice covers how to help services remain safe and what consultants and senior doctors can be asked to do while covering the shifts of junior doctors.
It says doctors should ensure they have the training for the roles they are being asked to carry out and staff should have been briefed by their trusts on their response to industrial action — among other areas of planning that should be completed.
The fifth round of industrial action will see junior doctors setting up pickets across England ...
Source: BMA News - April 25, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Call to match England's GP funds boost
BMA Northern Ireland is calling on the incoming Northern Ireland Assembly and the next health minister to increase funding for general practice in line with England, or face the prospect of GP practice closures.
The call comes after the Department of Health in England announced the most significant and comprehensive package of proposals to support general practice in the country since 2004.
The proposals, which were announced following sustained lobbying by the BMA GPs committee in England, include:
Recurrent spend in general practice to be increased by £2.4bn back to 10.4 per cent or more of NHS Engl...
Source: BMA News - April 25, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
PM urged to end 'damaging' contract stand-off
The leaders of 13 royal colleges have urged prime minister David Cameron to end the ‘damaging’ junior doctors contract stand-off.
The 'eleventh hour' call comes in a letter signed by the clinical leaders which says health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s refusal to return to negotiations, and the resulting impasse, ‘poses a significant threat to our whole healthcare system’.
Junior doctors will set up pickets across the country on Tuesday, 26 April and Wednesday, 27 April — the fifth round of industrial action.
Last week, the BMA offered to call off the strike if Mr Hunt lifted imposition of the ...
Source: BMA News - April 25, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Medical students face crisis of morale, conference hears
UK medical students face a crisis of morale that could affect the NHS for years to come, the co-chairs of the BMA medical students committee have warned.
Charlie Bell and Harrison Carter (pictured above, left and right), told the BMA medical students conference last week that issues including bursaries, debt and the imposition of the junior doctors contract were driving away many promising prospective doctors.
They said: ‘Any single one of these issues could at any point derail their nascent careers.
'It is small wonder, then, that we are faced with a crisis in morale of medical students, who are rightly concerned a...
Source: BMA News - April 25, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Workers' abuse kept on Government agenda by BMA report
A BMA report exposing the labour rights conditions in the production of medical gloves has been cited in a debate over the Government’s Modern Slavery Bill.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Doocey referred to the association’s report In Good Hands during a hearing in the House of Lords on 13 April, into what steps ministers are taking to tackle slavery in industrial supply chains.
She said: ‘What steps are the Government taking to eradicate modern slavery from supply chains, following the recent report by the BMA, which uncovered evidence of endemic abuses of labour rights in the medical gloves secto...
Source: BMA News - April 22, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Plea to shelve contract imposition
Medical royal college leaders have called for health secretary Jeremy Hunt to shelve his plan to impose the junior doctors’ contract.
They have described the move as ‘ill-conceived’ and said they were dismayed at the impasse — with the health secretary refusing to return to talks.
It comes after the BMA told Mr Hunt it would call off next week’s industrial action if he responded by dropping the imposition. College leaders have urged Mr Hunt to accept that offer, which Mr Hunt has so far rejected.
Royal College of Psychiatrists president Simon Wessely said in a statement: ‘If, as a junior...
Source: BMA News - April 22, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
Patient safety plans outlined ahead of industrial action
The BMA and NHS England have written to the leaders of hospital trusts in England outlining plans to ensure patient safety during this week’s industrial action.
It comes with junior doctors planning to run picket lines across the country from 8am to 5pm on Tuesday and Wednesday — in protest against health secretary Jeremy Hunt’s imposed contract.
A letter signed by BMA council chair Mark Porter (pictured above, right) and NHS England medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh advises chief executives of trusts of the protocols in place should hospitals struggle to cope.
Trusts have put comprehensive conti...
Source: BMA News - April 22, 2016 Category: UK Health Source Type: news
