Last week, I was at the Liverpool conference centre for the BMA’s ARM (Annual Representatives’ Meeting) where, for three days, doctors across our ‘fab four’ nations debated matters of importance to the profession and voted to make BMA ‘policy-forming’ decisions.
I was joined by BMA Scotland staff, and members from across Scotland’s branches of practice, for what is very much a team-working event.
On the Sunday evening we saw Scottish council member and Borders’ paediatrician Dr Graeme Eunson receiving the President’s Medal for services to the BMA in Scotland as a former consultants’ committee and junior doctors’ committee chair. His wife Dr Lauren Harris, a consultant radiologist, was there to share in the celebration. The dinner afterwards is always a good time to catch up with former office bearers and retired psychiatrist Dr Peter Bennie, whom many of you will know from his tenure as chair of Scottish council, was able to share some wise words and humorous stories at our table.
Monday morning is typically an early start for the Scottish ARM reps with the traditional 0800 “Bacon Roll” meeting to discuss the motions and how they may impact our members. This year I made the difficult decision to save members’ money by not having the rolls – just coffee and biscuits – but it will always be called the “Bacon Roll” meeting! One of my deputies, Dr Lailah Peel, chaired the meeting and it was a real pleasure for us to see Lailah welcoming some new Scottish members to their first ARM, including Aaron Fernandez (Dundee medical student) and Dr Sherif Saleh (consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist, Aberdeen Royal Infirmary).
Day one of the conference opened with UK BMA Chair, Prof Phil Banfield’s speech. Phil is an obstetrician, married to a GP and his main message was that we are “fighting back” to improve patient care, battle against years of pay erosion, and to stem the tide of colleagues leaving the UK.
On Monday evening, it was Scotland’s pleasure to host the annual ‘Celtic’ (Kel-tic) dinner – at a local Italian restaurant – where we were joined by our friends from Wales and Northern Ireland. These dinners strengthen the bonds within the BMA so that we can represent our members with greater strength and unity, as the reality is that we all share the same crises in our respective health services and have similar challenges with our governments.
Onto day two, on my way to breakfast, I was pleased to bump into Charlie Massey, CEO GMC UK and Professor Dame Carrie MacEwan, consultant ophthalmologist in Tayside, who is chair of the GMC. I know that the three letters ‘GMC’ can instil fear into many of our members and these informal opportunistic chats are always helpful to change the conversations towards learning and support – which Charlie and Carrie seemed genuinely to share BMA Scotland’s vision on.
It was then off to meet Tim Jays (Head of Comms at BMA Scotland) before appearing live on BBC radio Scotland with Gary Robertson to talk about our snap survey which revealed that almost half of doctors in Scotland (48%) remain fearful about speaking up on matters of patient safety or inappropriate behaviours in the workplace.
Various other media duties followed – and it was pleasing that BMA Scotland got the lead story on STV news that evening, on changing the culture in the NHS in Scotland.
That afternoon I had been pleased to deliver my inaugural speech as chair of BMA Scotland. I was able to publicly thank all our fantastic BMA Scotland staff and, separately, our national director Jill Vickerman for her 10 years of excellent service to BMA Scotland. Jill’s wisdom, professionalism and expertise will be sorely missed by me personally, and by the whole of BMA Scotland. We wish Jill well in her next venture.
My message to Scottish government was clear – that they need to value doctors – in actions, not just words. I emphasised how important it is that the new Cabinet Secretary (Michael Matheson) sees through the First Minister’s commitment to start a national conversation on the NHS.
I assured the ARM that Scotland’s doctors stand in solidarity with our juniors’ fight for fair pay – and whilst I was speaking, our SJDC chair Dr Chris Smith and his negotiating team were securing a much improved offer for Scotland’s juniors – with strike action now being suspended whilst our junior doctors across Scotland are balloted in a consultative vote.
Our collapsing GP surgeries, with over-worked GPs and our struggling hospitals, with angry disillusioned consultants were other themes I touched on – as well as how much we value and recognise staff, associate specialist and specialty doctors in Scotland.
On the Tuesday afternoon, Dr Mary Anne Burrow (Academic GP) and Dundee Medical student Steph Westland both presented their motions brilliantly, achieving the representatives’ body’s support for international medical graduates and medical student rural placements, respectively.
I left Liverpool for Edinburgh on Tuesday evening and had the pleasure of representing BMA Scotland at the King’s presentation of the Honours’ of Scotland at St Giles Cathedral on Wednesday. These events are always an opportunity to meet other leaders within the NHS and public services such as Charlotte Waite, dentist and director of the British Dental Association (BDA) in Scotland and Erica Reid, trustee of the The Queen’s Nursing Institute Scotland (QNIS). In various conversations I was able to garner support for our call for a national conversation on the NHS.
It can be a hard day’s night at an ARM, if you are speaking or engaged in multiple media pieces, but it is also great fun too. If you have never been to an ARM, how about you go next year to Belfast – a great chance to see how BMA policy is made in a great city to visit. We will make you very welcome – don’t let me down!
Dr Iain Kennedy, chair, BMA Scotland
bmascotland.home.blog 