Avon Local Medial Committee - Latest News

BMA Council Chairman, Dr Hamish Meldrum, has today (Friday 30 July, 2010) written to doctors and medical students following publication of the health White Paper for England.

In the letter, Dr Meldrum likens the White Paper to a “large curate’s egg; good in parts, bad in parts, unclear in parts and even internally inconsistent in parts.”

He says that while it offers opportunities “for doctors to take more control over their working lives and the design of services for patients,” there are also “perceived threats to education and national terms and conditions of service,” and concerns “that it will increase the role of the market in healthcare.”

Dr Meldrum says that the BMA will “critically engage” with the consultation on the White Paper to address doctors’ concerns and achieve the best outcomes for patients:

“I am in no doubt that this is a very challenging agenda and that it is not without risk. There are challenges for the NHS, for the profession and for the BMA but I believe that it is vital that we rise to the challenge and, together, try to ensure that we mould these proposals into a set of solutions that can benefit our patients and the working lives of doctors.”

One of the key proposals in the White Paper is to devolve more involvement and financial control in commissioning to GPs.  Dr Meldrum writes:

“The BMA has made it abundantly clear that, for commissioning to be successful, there must be the fullest engagement with secondary care colleagues and, indeed, with the public. There is an opportunity here for doctors to take more control over their working lives and the design of services for their patients, but only by working together, in partnership, will doctors be able to maintain or even improve these services in these financially constrained times.”

The BMA will be seeking the views of its members as it responds to the consultation.

The NHS pension scheme is sustainable and represents value for money for the public, the BMA says today (Friday 30 July, 2010) as it challenges some of the misconceptions about pensions for public sector workers.

In its submission to the independent commission into public sector pensions, the BMA points out that the NHS scheme is financed by employees and employers rather than taxpayers, and in recent years has actually provided a surplus to the Treasury.

It also draws attention to the fact that the scheme for NHS staff in England and Wales has already been subject to a recent major review.  In 2008 the normal pension age for new staff increased from 60 to 65, and employers’ contributions were capped, while contributions from doctors increased by up to 2.5%.  GP members of the scheme also pay employer contributions of 14%.

Dr Andrew Dearden, Chairman of the BMA’s Pensions Committee, said

“Pensions for NHS staff are by no means a drain on the taxpayer – they represent a fair deal for staff and value for money for the public.   We understand the need to keep the NHS scheme fair and sustainable in the long term, which is why we accepted the major changes recommended by the review in 2008.  

“NHS pensions play a vital part in recruiting and retaining a high quality workforce in future, and we hope they will continue to do so in future.”

View the full BMA submission at:   http://www.bma.org.uk/employmentandcontracts/pensions/ipspcevidencejuly2010.jsp     

Following the announcement of the emergency budget on 22 June, specialist accountants have now reviewed the Focus on new tax bracket guidance. The previous advice about superannuation has been removed as it is no longer applicable, as well as the spreadsheet illustrating how the tax could affect income for the year 2009-10 as it is out of date. Otherwise the guidance remains the same and we would urge practices to seek advice where necessary from an accountant.

The revised guide is available on the BMA website:

http://www.bma.org.uk/employmentandcontracts/tax/focustaxbrackets.jsp

Commenting on the launch of the consultation ‘Commissioning for patients’, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of BMA Council, said:

“This document provides more detail about the government’s plans for GP commissioning, but there are still many questions that need answering. The proposals contain both opportunities and threats and we will be actively engaging with the consultation process to explore this in great detail and to ensure our members’ views are taken on board. We will also be publishing our own proposals for how GP commissioning could be made to work.

“This is a challenging agenda, but the BMA is committed to try to find workable solutions that will fully engage both primary and secondary care doctors and the public so that by working in partnership they can achieve the best outcomes for patients.”

BMA Comment on ‘Commissioning for patients’

Commenting on the launch of the consultation ‘Commissioning for patients’, Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of BMA Council, said:

“This document provides more detail about the government’s plans for GP commissioning, but there are still many questions that need answering.  The proposals contain both opportunities and threats and we will be actively engaging with the consultation process to explore this in great detail and to ensure our members’ views are taken on board.  We will also be publishing our own proposals for how GP commissioning could be made to work.

“This is a challenging agenda, but the BMA is committed to try to find workable solutions that will fully engage both primary and secondary care doctors and the public so that by working in partnership they can achieve the best outcomes for patients.”

Responding to the publication of the Government’s health white paper today (Monday, 12^th July 2010), Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of BMA Council said:

“The proposals announced in today’s white paper will have a substantial impact on the NHS and patients. We are looking forward to discussing the details behind these new initiatives in more depth and playing an active role in the consultations that follow.“

On plans for commissioning of health care, Dr Meldrum said:

“Doctors are ideally placed to help determine the health needs of their local population. Every time they see a patient they have to make decisions about their care, in partnership with them. Doctors, and their staff, already take the lead on designing services and innovating new treatments for patients and will be interested in discussing how these roles will be enhanced. They will wish to see how the proposed changes allow them to work collaboratively, and in partnership with their patients, to facilitate improvements in the care pathway and to see unnecessary barriers and bureaucracy removed.

“Any reorganisation of the NHS must take place in consultation with clinicians so that it does not cause any disruption to patient services or needlessly waste the valuable time of healthcare professionals.”

The BMA has long called for better data to help measure and improve performance. Dr Meldrum said:

“Although giving patients more information about their care is to be encouraged, we need to be very careful about how we use any outcomes-based data to ensure it is meaningful to both the profession and patients.

“Plans to link outcomes to NHS funding will need to be carefully thought through to ensure that any payments are a true reflection of the activity and cost involved.”