Chairman’s News

05 December 2009

Introduction
Unusually, I came down to London on Sunday evening – after a rather brief
weekend - in order to attend the DDRB Oral Evidence session on Monday.

Monday
Our evidence to the DDRB seemed to be reasonably well received,
although you can never really tell, and I have to admit that given the
current economic climate, I for one am not overly optimistic with respect
to the likely pay award this year.

We were questioned closely about affordability and whether we believed

that a flat rate rather than percentage rise would be more appropriate.
Given that the NHS is in surplus and that the vast majority of staff will be
getting a 2.25% pay rise through the Agenda for Change three-year deal,
we argued that a similar rise for doctors was affordable. We also rejected
the idea of a flat-rate rise as we felt this would simply erode differentials.
On GPs, I think we got over the point about the need to deal with rising GP
expenses before they dealt with any actual pay award and, on juniors, we
strongly argued the need to negotiate a new contract and, in respect of
SAS doctors, we bemoaned the time it was taking to implement their new
contract.

After returning to the BMA after the evidence session, I had a meeting
with Nicky Jayesinghe of Science and Education, to discuss our
relationships with BIDA and BAPIO and following this, I had a meeting with
the BMA News editor about my chairman’s message.

Early evening I had a catch-up meeting with Peter Rubin, chair of the GMC.
Unsurprisingly, revalidation dominated the conversation and I expressed
the BMA’s anxieties about several areas of concern, including issues about
some of the pilots, the role of responsible officers, the over-optimistic
expectations of many of the colleges, the costs of remediation and
resources generally that will be available for the whole process. He was
sympathetic towards most of our arguments and assured me they would
all be taken on board and that there would have to be a fair degree of
pragmatism in respect of the implementation of revalidation.

Tuesday
I began Tuesday with a breakfast meeting with Niall Dickson to discuss his
new role as chief executive of the GMC and enede up having a
conversation very similar to the one I had had the previous evening with
his future boss..

Later on Tuesday morning I was joined by Shree Datta of JDC and Nick
Deakin of MSC to meet Professor John Collins, who has been appointed
Chair of the Independent Review of the Foundation Programme. We had
an interesting meeting, and John seems very keen to work with the BMA,
in particular in liaison with the JDC and MSC on ensuring that the review
goes some way to, in his words, ‘heal wounds’ and regain the trust of
medical students and junior doctors. John brings with him a lot of
experience of training in Australia and New Zealand so it will be
interesting to see how much the practice in these countries influence his
conclusions.

Continuing the revalidation theme which seemed to dominate much of my

week, Paul Buckley and Ben Jones of the GMC then came for a meeting
ahead of the Revalidation Programme Board next Tuesday, and, together
with Brian Keighley, we discussed various items on the agenda including
the progress of the pilots, communications with the profession and the
need for clear leadership from the GMC.

Tuesday continued in a revalidation vein with one of the fairly regular

DH/BMA meetings, ‘Taking Revalidation Forward’. This was yet another
opportunity to reiterate our many and increasing concerns and I think we
left the department in no doubt that, whilst we support the principle of
revalidation, we will not accept an un realistic, under-resourced or rushed
implementation.

On Tuesday evening I had dinner with Steve Barnett, the chief executive
of the NHS Confederation and Hugo Mascie-Taylor, their newly appointed
medical director. Again, revalidation was on the agenda and the NHSC
share many of our concerns. We obviously discussed the economic
situation in the NHS, recent problems with adverse reports about NHS
trusts, whistle-blowing and, not least, the role of the market in the NHS in
England

Wednesday
I began Wednesday with a catch-up meeting with Tony, where, amongst
other matters, we discussed many of the issues that need to be addressed
following the previous week’s meetings. That was immediately followed by
a pre-meeting before the press conference to launch the manifesto at
10.00. The press conference itself went quite well, though we might have
hoped for better coverage in the press the following day.

Shortly after this, Vivienne and I headed to Portcullis House to meet with
Joan Ruddock, who is Minister at the Department of Energy and Climate
Change. We were there to brief her on the BMA’s activities and policies in
this area and it was a refreshing change to have a ministerial meeting
where the BMA was being praised rather than criticised and where we
could discuss cooperative working rather than being at loggerheads.

After a late lunch I had some time to catch up on some emails and other
paperwork before another couple of internal meetings. Then, for once, I
had a relatively quiet evening with the opportunity to catch up on some
reading.

Thursday
On Thursday, I had an early start as I headed to Cardiff for a meeting of
Welsh Council.

Next week
On Tuesday I have a meeting of the GMC UK Revalidation Programme
Board, followed by a farewell reception at the GMC for Finlay Scott, the
GMC’s former chief executive. On Wednesday I am flying to Edinburgh for
Scottish Council, before returning to attend the NHS Confederation’s
Christmas reception and, if I still have the stamina, to put in an
appearance at the BMA’s Christmas party.

On Thursday I have a meeting with Mike O’Brian, Minister for Health

Services, followed by a dinner that evening with the MDU and various BMA
committee chairmen.

I have included below a log of all the consultations the BMA is currently
responding to.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Hamish Meldrum
Chairman of Council
05 December 2009
 The BMA regularly responds to significant consultations issued by key NHS
stakeholders. This process is coordinated centrally by HPERU in
collaboration with relevant branches of practice and BMA committees with
oversight from the Political Board. Current consultations subject to this
process are:

Deadline of
Consultation the Co-ordinating
consultation contact
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 10/12/2009 Sally Al-Zaidy
Consultation on the proposed framework for Quality Accounts HPERU
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 11/12/2009 Paul Shipton
Supporting our future NHS workforce: a consultation on the NHS Junior Doctors and
Bursary Scheme Medical Students
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS: 11/12/2009 Claudine Lyons
Agency worker directive draft EU regulations HPERU
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC PROSECUTIONS: Ann Sommerville
Interim Policy for Prosecutors in respect of Cases of Assisted 16/12/2009 Ethics
Suicide
HIGHER EDUCATION FUNDING COUNCIL FOR ENGLAND (HEFCE): 16/12/2009 Jane Daniels
Proposals for a Research Excellence Framework Hospital Seniors
COUNCIL FOR HEALTHCARE REGULATORY EXCELLENCE: 17/12/2009 Jacqueline Foukas
The Performance Review 2009/2010 GMC Working Group
DEPARTMENT FOR BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS: 18/12/2009 David Cloke
The Postgraduate Review Hospital Seniors
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE: 18/12/2009 Rosie Hogwood
Streamlined Cremation Form 4, for pandemic purposes Career doctors and
independent Medical
Services
CARE QUALITY COMMISSION: 24/12/2009 Jenny Priest
Care Quality Commission 2010-15 Strategic Plan HPERU
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 30/12/2009 Luke Garland
Proposed tobacco control regulations in England (under the Science and Education
Health Bill 2009)
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: 31/12/2009 Rachel Merrett
Consultation on the legal framework for the fundamental right to NHS Information
protection of personal data Technology
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 31/12/2009 John Maingay
Review of Restrictions on Private Patient Income: the NHS Hospital Seniors
Foundation Trust Private Patient Income Cap
GENERAL MEDICAL COUNCIL: 5/01/2010 Amy Rogers
Merger of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board Junior Doctors and
with the GMC: Consultation on draft Rules and Regulations Medical Students
MINISTRY OF JUSTICE: 7/01/2010 Sophie Brannan
Knowing or reckless misuse of personal data - introducing Ethics
custodial sentences
DEPARTMENT FOR CULTURE, MEDIA AND SPORT: 8/01/2010 Grace Foyle
Consultation on product placement on television Science and Education
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 8/01/2010 Sally Al-Zaidy
Direct payment for health care: a consultation on proposals for HPERU
regulations and guidance
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: 8/01/2010 Nicola While
Assessment of the functioning of the 'Clinical Trials Directive' International
2001/20/EC
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 12/01/2010 Matthew Isom
Implementing the Health Act 2006: review of fees for applications GPC
 Deadline of
Consultation the Co-ordinating
consultation contact
to provide pharmaceutical services in England: consultation
document
MONITOR: 25/01/2010 John Maingay
Consultation on additional annual reporting requirements 2009/10 Hospital Seniors
CARE QUALITY COMMISSION: 26/01/2010 Julie Goodway
Regulatory fees - have your say GPC
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 26/01/2010 Rachel Craine
Personal care at home: a consultation on proposals for regulations Council Secretariat
and guidance
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 5/02/2010 Jenny Priest
NHS Constitution: a consultation on new patient rights HPERU
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 8/02/2010 Claudine Lyons
Innovation pass pilot HPERU
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: 15/02/2010 Elizabeth Bohm
Age Equality in Health and Social Care Science and Education

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Sunday, 06 December 2009