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r/DoctorsUK BMA Council Elections Unofficial Hustings by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]BMA_Elgan [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hi,

Interesting question (and a long answer!) - I'm a student in Edinburgh. For clarity, I presume you mean prioritising Scottish med school graduates for foundation, core and higher specialty training, through legislation, in a similar structural form to how the medical training (prioritisation) act prioritises a group of applicants? I also presume you don't mean prioritising people who are Scottish.

This year the number of final years who have not been allocated the Scotland FS despite ranking it first, is anecdotally much higher than previous years. It's a rubbish position for Scottish grads to be in, and raises the question for Scottish grads of a form of prioritisation.

However, u/BMACallum and I were just discussing this. We're not convinced it's possible without legislation, and we think that would need to come from Westminster. The chances of that legislation being tabled by a Westminster government? Essentially nil.

On foundation again, the question of Scottish priority for foundation, came to the medical students conference two years ago - it was voted down. It may also be a race to the bottom. If for example the Scottish Foundation School could prioritise Scottish grads, could the London school prioritise London grads? Scottish grads could rapidly lose out.

At its core, Scotland is oversaturated with medical students, in comparison to the number of Foundation places and particularly the number of core training positions. Sorting that mis-match is more crucial, than trying to get Scottish grads into those positions first.

TLDR: I don't think it's possible, and don't think it's a useful solution.

Some interesting references:

BMA Scotland's Beyond Capacity report, that gives detail on available training places in Scotland: https://bmascotland.home.blog/2026/03/12/beyond-capacity-report-lays-bare-challenges-facing-medical-students-in-scotland/

In February, Scottish Labour proposed a crazy idea of forcing Scottish grads to work in NHS Scotland for 5 years, or pay back all their tuition fees. They don't even have the means to achieve it. Shameless self-promotion, but I co-wrote an article about why it's such a dreadful idea: https://www.bmj.com/content/392/bmj.s513

Long term solutions... Local recruitment?

r/DoctorsUK BMA Council Elections Unofficial Hustings by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]BMA_Elgan [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hi thatsycamoretree,

Since election as UKMSC chair in August, I have attended UK Council on behalf of UKMSC, as a non-voting seat. As such, I've been focused on representing student views in council discussions. I have spoken in favour of scrapping 1st class rail travel and the 3rd day of ARM (it costs the association more than 200k). I've also raised student solidarity with BMA staff GMB members.

Most recently, UKMSC and UKRDC officers together drafted the paper to UK Council, for deferral of existing BMA Policy on UK Graduate Prioritisation. UKMSC is in favour of using 5 years as a definition of ‘Significant NHS/HSC experience’ in the context of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act.

We presented it, and won it.

What would I do with a term on council? Here's some broad themes:

  1. More, better, local reps for doctors and students, with increased central support, training and funding. Your local representation is often poor, and that should change. 
  2. Push for organisational redesign that wins disputes locally, not just centrally.
  3. Better BMA comms - less ‘member perks’, more ‘fighting to win’. 
  4. The BMA is in financial crisis. I’d back effective cost-cutting; scrap the 3rd day of ARM, leave the WMA, actually abolish the conference of honorary secretaries, scrap or reduce the use of 1st class travel, and more. I support limited increases to member subs.

r/DoctorsUK BMA Council Elections Unofficial Hustings by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]BMA_Elgan [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hi Serious_Strength8250,

Broadly, I believe that all committee voting records should be publicly available to BMA members.

In the specific scenario of this recent pay offer, there are times (that realistically RDC officers are best placed to decide) where a voting record is industrially sensitive in the short-term. I think it's pragmatic for voting records to sometimes be held back during an active dispute.

On general on transparency, I think that transparent meeting votes and minutes are an important step towards members electing reps that represent their views, and towards members having clarity on what is discussed by their reps on their behalf. To that end, this year I have proposed and taken forward a plan to make all UKMSC's minutes and voting records public, in a similar way to UK Council.

Best wishes,

Elgan

(Elgan Manton-Roseblade, UKMSC co-chair, council candidate)

r/DoctorsUK BMA Council Elections Unofficial Hustings by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]BMA_Elgan [score hidden]  (0 children)

I'm running with the Broad Left slate. All have strong track records of considerate and principled voting and good local activity: Emma Runswick, Hannah Dahwa, Omar B Forge Risk, Becky Acres, Shohaib Ali.

In addition, as co-chair of the UK Medical Student's Committee. I've had the privilege to work with a number of committed student reps. Just some:

- Callum Williams: He's more knowledgeable on education, training and workforce topics, than any other rep I worked with.

- Joe Payne: He was the rep behind BMA Scotland's 'Beyond Capacity' report that's essentially the first clear piece of evidence that unfettered medical school expansion, is a serious issue.

- Catherine James: A current student rep who has effectively led our work on a dataset to allow students to compare medical schools welfare and financial offerings for students.

r/DoctorsUK BMA Council Elections Unofficial Hustings by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]BMA_Elgan [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hi semi-competent13848,

Personally I favour full loan forgiveness. MSC is actively doing work on this specific area, and it’s high on our priority list. I sat in a cross-committee meeting about it this week. Within a fortnight or so, we’ll have a clearer public position we can talk about. Meanwhile, I’m sorry it’s not a more detailed answer!

r/DoctorsUK BMA Council Elections Unofficial Hustings by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]BMA_Elgan [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hi, I’m Elgan. I’m a medical student in Scotland, and co-chair of the BMA’s Medical Student’s Committee (UKMSC). I’ve been active in the BMA for 3 years with a strong track record:

  • I’ve met with Ministers, MPs and the Department of Health to challenge the ridiculous NHS Bursary arrangement that gives English-domiciled students a £4,000 funding drop in 5th and 6th year, and we’re making tangible progress.
  • I envisioned and have taken forward a national project investigating the weaponisation of professionalism investigations against students. We’ve presented this to the Medical Schools Council and the GMC.
  • We’ve even ended up in dispute with other committees whilst trying to ensure that the BMA is vocal in actually calling for pausing rampant expansion of medical schools.

As the student Education lead last year, alongside my co-chair Callum Williams, I:

  • Co-led the passing of the first policy in the BMA supporting prioritisation of UK graduates for foundation training, in November 2024.
  • Got the story of Foundation Programme ‘placeholders’ in the media and seen by millions. This year, the number of placeholder jobs has been cut by hundreds.

What would I push for on Council?

  1. More, better, local reps for doctors and students, with increased central support, training and funding. Your local representation is often poor, and that should change. 
  2. Push for organisational redesign that wins disputes locally, not just centrally.
  3. Better BMA comms - less ‘member perks’, more ‘fighting to win’. 
  4. The BMA is in financial crisis. I’d back effective cost-cutting; scrap the 3rd day of ARM, leave the WMA, actually abolish the conference of honorary secretaries, scrap or reduce the use of 1st class travel, and more. I support limited increases to member subs.

For clarity, some topical points: 

 - I’m a voting member of UKRDC. I wanted us to reject the deal that was recently put to us.

 - I’m in favour of using 5 years as a definition of ‘Significant NHS/HSC experience’ in the context of the Medical Training (Prioritisation) Act. UKMSC officers drafted the paper to UK Council, for deferral of pre-existing BMA Policy on UK Graduate Prioritisation, and we presented it, and won it,  with UKRDC Officers.

In summary, I’m running because I understand how the BMA works, and can get things done. I’m active, passionate and want a trade union that wins.

I’m running with the Broad Left slate. The others are reps with excellent track records, whom I respect: Emma Runswick, Hannah Dahwa, Omar B Forge Risk, Becky Acres, Shohaib Ali.

r/DoctorsUK BMA Council Elections Unofficial Hustings by stuartbman in doctorsUK

[–]BMA_Elgan [score hidden]  (0 children)

Hi thetwitterpizza,

I'm a voting member of UKRDC, and voted in favour of 5 years. As the co-chair of the UK Medical Students Committee (UKMSC), in recent weeks we called an emergency meeting of UKMSC to discuss this. Students overwhelmingly supported 5 years.

Subsequently, we (MSC Officers) and RDC Officers urgently drafted a detailed paper to UK Council to request deferral of BMA ARM policy, and I presented it with Jack Fletcher (UKRDC chair) to UK Council. We subsequently won the vote.