The Horse's Mouth

The Health Service Journal (HSJ) published a great scoop yesterday with a leak from inside the BMA, the doctors' union.

Now the BMA is a trade union like any other, arguably far more successful than most, yet often likes to present a selfless organisation fighting for difficult to quantify things like 'patient safety', as opposed to the self-interest of BMA members.

Nothing wrong with that, all unions whose members deliver public services behave in this way, to a greater or lesser extent, but I think it's fair to say the BMA does so more than most which is perhaps the secret of its success.

In any event the HSJ leak contains the following revelations: 

• The leadership of the British Medical Association’s junior doctors’ committee wanted to “draw this [dispute] right out” with “punctuated [industrial action] for a prolonged period” and tie “the DH up in knots for the next 16-18 months”.
• JDC chair Johann Malawana told the group in December that the “best solution” might include playing out the dispute for so long that it would “force” the government “to impose [the contact] against our support”.
• The strategy contrasts with public statements made by BMA leaders throughout the dispute asserting that the dispute could be resolved if the government was willing to negotiate. For example, on 23 February Dr Malawana said: “The government can avert this [strike] action by re-entering talks with the BMA and addressing rather than simply ignoring the outstanding issues and concerns junior doctors have.”
• Despite protestations that the dispute was about “safety, not pay”, the issue of weekend pay was described late last year by a JDC executive member as “the only real red line” for junior doctors. This point was only finally conceded by the JDC on 7 May when it decided to re-enter negotiations.
• However, Dr Malawana discussed conceding the weekend pay issue if the government increased the medical pay bill by £500m-£700m.
• Although the BMA stated throughout the dispute it wanted to negotiate with the government, the leak reveals the JDC executive believed it “had nothing to talk about” as it was not willing to discuss weekend pay. This position only changed this month.
• Dr Malawana told the group that the January round of talks overseen by the mediation service Acas and Sir David Dalton were “rubbish” and the JDC should only take part “to play the political game of always looking reasonable”.
• Dr Malawana described the prospect of strike which involved the removal of emergency cover as “a vanity event for juniors” and warned against it.

So there you have it, from the horse's mouth so to speak, and if anyone thinks the BMA is anything other than an old-fashioned trade union after reading this, I'd say they need the help of a good psychiatrist.

http://www.hsj.co.uk/topics/workforce/exclusive-huge-leak-reveals-bma-plan-to-draw-out-junior-doctors-dispute/7005113.article?blocktitle=News&contentID=15303

Exclusive: Huge leak reveals BMA plan to 'draw out' junior doctors dispute

By SHAUN LINTERN - HSJ 

The strategy adopted by junior doctors’ leaders in their historic contract dispute with the government is revealed in a huge leak of more than 1,000 pages of private messages.