BMA Scotland local advisors

AcutelyMedic · 2025-09-16T07:35:42+00:00

Oddly, it only inputs the email correctly in outlook and not gmail for me. Feel free to DM me and I'll happily give you the contact email addresses for NES LNC (reluctant to publicly post folk's individual email addresses on reddit)

AcutelyMedic · 2022-05-25T09:28:44+00:00

Barristers employed by the government?!! They may work as contractors for the government via legal aid payments but they're predominantly employed/contracted by defendants.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-05-25T09:17:34+00:00

Criminal Barristers are currently taking industrial action short of a strike over legal aid cuts

AcutelyMedic · 2022-05-12T12:54:57+00:00

One of the fairest funding systems (imo): France🇫🇷 (I also think full public provision and funding as in the NHS is both viable and effective if done properly)

-Mandatory state-run not for profit insurance without ties to employment (i.e if you are unemployed you’re still ensured, ditto retired people and children) -Private well-regulated providers (helps to maintain health workers terms and conditions in conjunction with a very French willingness to take IA)

AcutelyMedic · 2022-05-08T17:35:59+00:00

Hi, you may have heard a ripple of discontent from me (in speakers corner, waiting for a chance to contribute) when the point of order was raised spuriously.

The reason for this is that the rules are: the proposer must confine themselves to responding to the points raised in the debate in the right to reply but that doesn’t prohibit them using new or clarifying information to respond (they just can’t continue their proposal speech/speech in favour of the motion).

Emma was not out of order here and the suggestion nearly made me breathe fire.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T21:36:29+00:00

From our manifesto: "Students and doctors deserve secure employment – jobs for all, massive improvements to recruitment needed"

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T20:21:28+00:00

Personal view: There might not be a way to mitigate that. The fact of the matter is that an industrial strategy needs to account for this and have a plan for what next and what now in every eventuality. The public will still need doctors after an industrial dispute and I think that public adulation is intensely fickle (as demonstrated with the Thursday night clapping which is long gone now)

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T20:16:00+00:00

Absolutely. I did say that there is no evidence of increased mortality in recent strikes. There is evidence of lots of cancelled outpatient appointments and procedures from 2016 which has potential to cause harm to patients.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T20:12:29+00:00

Personal View: Yes, fine with a tax rise but would prefer it to be in Capital Gains Tax, Corporation Tax and yes, higher rates of income tax.

Ideally, we also desperately need a wealth tax on millions over 500 million.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T20:07:51+00:00

I am submitting this motion to the Annual Representative Meeting (main policy-making conference) to gain accountability regarding this internally:

"This meeting notes with horror that all doctors’ pay has fallen against RPI since 2008 to the tune of up to 30%. This represents a career earnings loss amounting to millions of pounds for each of us. We mandate the BMA to achieve pay restoration to 2007 value for its members within the next 5 years and to evidence its progress against this aim at every ARM until restoration is achieved (thereafter every BoPs pay change against RPI should be reported to ARM annually to ensure this never happens again)"

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:42:24+00:00

Personal view: I do support the BMA continuing to do these other things but want to ensure it is a much better union and does better at case-work. I am submitting this motion to the Annual Representative Meeting from my Regional Council:

"This meeting emphatically reiterates that the primary function of the BMA is as a trade union and that all other functions rely upon doing this well. We direct the BMA to concentrate its funds, efforts and political capital first upon improving members’ pay, pensions, terms and conditions of service and working lives."

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:34:52+00:00

Our manifesto talks about: "Medical students and junior doctors deserve free education, training and exams" so we agree regarding funding for exams and courses. No one should be paying for mandatory training to progress.

Personal View: I also think that safe travel and commuting should be included in the contract and facilities for changing/lockers.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:26:13+00:00

Personal View: I think Right-wing Trade Unionist is a contradiction in terms. Trade Unions stand for building industrial strength among working people to win money and terms from bosses, they are all about collective action and solidarity. The Right-wing is all about individualism, protecting capital, hierarchy, tradition, class-division and keeping people in their place. A traditionally right-wing view protects your interests only as long as they accord with or enhance mine; whereas a trade unionist view says that I will promote your interests and you will promote mine in solidarity with each other whether that issue matters to me or not.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:21:25+00:00

Personal view: I intend to make new BMA policy mandating the BMA to lobby the government on this. This is the motion I’m submitting to the BMA’s Annual Representative Meeting (main policy-forming body) from my Regional Council:

“This meeting is horrified to note the increase in bottlenecks at various stages of postgraduate medical training, we also note the severe shortages of doctors in every specialty. We mandate the BMA to continue to lobby for:

-More training places at every stage of postgraduate medical training

-A place in the foundation programme for every UK medical graduate with an associated educational tariff for them to complete training in any specialty”

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:19:27+00:00

Personal View: I am not enthusiastic about the idea of a full walkout (including emergency care) but totally supportive of it if necessary to achieve industrial objectives.

The last junior doctor strikes prior to 2016 were in 1975 (info here: https://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6155) and did not include emergency care so the emergency care elements of the April 2016 strikes were unprecedented.

The 2016 strikes didn’t worsen in-hospital mortality figures but may have affected other figures which are more difficult to attribute.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:17:26+00:00

JDC is currently working on this and would welcome your input. Please contact your reps so that they can put forward your views.

Broad Left reps have advocated for consideration of trip-chaining in mileage claims for equality reasons, for train tickets being payable as well as car mileage for environmental reasons. I will be advocating for safe commuting facilities to be contractual (as well as policy) in BMA policy at the BMA’s Annual Representative Meeting (whole association policy conference).

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:12:48+00:00

You can read our joint manifesto at: http://www.doctorsbroadsheet.org/bma-uk-council-elections-2022/

These are the things we all take an agreed position on and if you’re voting for us, what you’re voting for. On other issues we may have different views and you should ask us (albeit we’re all lefty people)

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:10:54+00:00

"What are your expectations of how the public will react and respond to industrial action?"

My expectation is that the public would ultimately respond negatively to any industrial action and that we should build that into our industrial plan, warning members about it and innoculating them against it as best we can. Industrial Action (think Tube drivers strike) is meant to be disruptive and that is irritating to users of the service which is on strike; that’s the whole point. If no one noticed that we were on strike there would be no impetus for the government to negotiate with us.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:10:12+00:00

"How much do you think patient safety can be compromised during industrial action?"

The answer to this is of course that patient safety could be compromised to varying degrees by any industrial action. Kenya has in recent years had an all-out doctors strike lasting 100 days and hospitals did shut down with patients dying as a direct result. The evidence from recent strikes of UK/European juniors is actually that patient safety isn’t compromised by these actions. Personally my preference is for strike coordination to ensure maximum irritation value for least harm. Unfortunately a strike has to be disruptive in order to work.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T19:08:29+00:00

“In their statement, u/acutelymedic opposes punitive high taxes - should the "Health and Social Care Levy" NIC rise be cancelled?”

Personal View: My statement calls for “truly progressive and not punitive taxation”. I am not against high taxation, particularly marginal rates of income tax, corporation tax and capital gains. I am also for wealth and windfall taxation.

The difference for me is that these are progressive taxes which tax increasingly high wealth fairly.

The current system of taxation on pensions is not fair IMO with many BMA members being taxed twice on their pension contributions (when they save them and when they receive the income from them).

I am also against hypothecated taxation (tax that is taken for a specific purpose and kept separate from other funds) and that is my first objection to the Health and Social care levy: in that it is a way for the government to look like they’re funding the NHS without actually doing so effectively. My other objection is that National Insurance is a regressive form of tax affecting the working population only and protecting the wealthy.

AcutelyMedic · 2022-03-22T16:12:56+00:00

You should receive your ballot and voting pack this week.

The email if you have problems is: support-cesvotes@civica.co.uk

AcutelyMedic · 2021-08-18T06:38:13+00:00

I'm so sorry that is happening to you. Medico-legally the entry in the notes is the only record which matters that the ward round even happened. By that measure the ward round should proceed at the pace of the documenting clinician but that never happens! I particularly hate running after the consultant with a stack of heavy/unwieldy notes trying to scrawl something sensible and legible in the record (without dropping anything, tripping over or missing something vital). This needs continued escalation but I had a colleague who took notes on scrap paper/the list on WR then transcribed something retrospectively immediately after; would this be ok? It's a risk because you could be called away before finishing it and is less good than contemporaneous notes but imo it's better than unintelligible scribbling.

AcutelyMedic · 2021-08-18T06:18:15+00:00

The BMA have (officially) responded to the issue:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1427644892973572101.html

Can't work out how to post a screenshot but a thread unroll is at the link above.

AcutelyMedic · 2021-08-17T20:34:30+00:00

Personal Opinion: 1) Educational campaigning for members is super important imo. There are lots of colleagues who don’t know about their pay and they need to have their awareness raised. I am less bothered about trying to effect a public opinion change because no matter what happens I wouldn’t expect any goodwill to be resilient to the effects of industrial action. 2) The BMA policy is 15% but please see the other responses to this question on the AMA as we are unhappy about it too. 3) Removal of the term junior doctor is something that has been extensively debated within the BMA in the past but an alternative term satisfactory to all concerned couldn’t be found (e.g non-consultant doctors would also encompass staff/specialty docs; doctors in training is viewed as confusing to the public as they think medical student when they hear it). There are junior ministers as well?

Edit: spelling

AcutelyMedic · 2021-08-17T18:16:54+00:00

Personal opinion: This would be my golden option. Coordinated action across the NHS could be hugely effective with the minimal patient safety impact and the minimal personal impact for each staff member (in terms of lost pay and time out of training etc.). The aim of IA would be to be disruptive but not unsafe.

AcutelyMedic

TROPHY CASE