To kick off the last session of the BMA’s 2009 ARM conference, members looked at the topic of occupational health, something which has been a pertinent issue at BMA Cymru Wales recently. We’ve been seeking assurances that the future of the Primary Care Support Service (PCSS), which is the ONLY occupational health service for doctors in primary care, will be secured during the NHS reorganisation agenda.
Next – on to motions on the environment, calling on the BMA to do more to highlight the global health risks associated with climate change and to reduce our own carbon footprint. We then turned to the important public health issues of nutrition, exercise and obesity, an area in which Wales faces considerable challenges if we are to address them, particularly childhood obesity. Motions calling for more local recreational facilities (swimming pools, cycle routes etc) remind me that when I get back I must find out how Dr Dai Lloyd AM’s proposed Measure on playing fields is getting on.
The HPV vaccine sparked a valuable and lively debate with conference deciding that the roll-out of the vaccine should be extended to boys not just girls, and that it has been a missed opportunity to vaccinate against other diseases such as genital warts.
Also a subject with high prevalence rates in Wales: drugs and addiction. The topics covered by this set of motions call for minimum unit pricing for alcohol; clearer labelling; a ban on alcohol advertising in the media and the redirection of revenue into prevention and rehabilitation programmes. These motions passed UNANIMOUSLY.
Tobacco also generated a good discussion with motions proposed for all forms of tobacco advertising to be banned, including at the point of sale and another calling for cigarette vending machines to be restricted.
After four days of rigorous and impassioned debate, conference draws to a close and its time to return to Cardiff. The ARM has set BMA policy and determined many of the issues that we will be working on for the next twelve months.
For anyone who wants to see a full webcast and results of the motions debated this week click here.
Showing posts with label ARM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ARM. Show all posts
Thursday, 2 July 2009
Wednesday, 1 July 2009
ARM - day three - medical ethics
So, to the motions on Medical Ethics which saw some of the liveliest debates in ARM history - not surprising I guess, given the content of the motions and the fact that they apply to all branches of the profession across the UK.
Opening this section was Wales’ own Dr Tony Calland, Chair of the BMA Ethics Committee, who outlined the issues that the Committee continues to work on: top-up payments; pandemic flu; presumed consent; compulsory vaccinations; assisted dying and Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, which relates to the sharing of patient records (after a successful campaign the BMA recently managed to get this clause removed from the Bill).
On to the motions:
The first relates to spiritual care in the NHS – it follows this story. The motions which passed recognised that the NHS is committed to providing spiritual care to patients and noted guidance from the GMC on the inappropriate discussion of faith issues. Faith is obviously a sensitive and highly personal subject which would explain the heated debate which followed. While recognizing the importance of faith as a part of holistic health care, conference fell short of supporting doctors initiating the issue with patients.
Next up, a motion objecting to the proposed use of TV advertising for abortion services. The motion, proposed by the Yorkshire Regional Council, stated that the adverts will give the wrong message to young women and promotes sex as a values-free activity with a quick medical fix. For many different reasons, the motion fell and in my view, rightly so. It is important that patients receive as much information as possible, particularly women in a situation where they have to consider the complex and distressing decision of whether to continue with a pregnancy or not. As doctors, we have a duty to ensure that our patients have as much information as possible while exercising their right to choose.
Finally in the Medical Ethics section: assisted dying. This motion called for those people accompanying the patient in an assisted death, but not actively participating, be exempt from prosecution; and for patients who are terminally ill but who have full mental capacity to be allowed to make a choice on assisted death. Baroness Ilora Finlay spoke eloquently against this motion drawing on her particular expertise; and indeed both parts of the motion fell – although it was an extremely close vote with very convincing accounts from both sides.
So far it’s been a highly interesting, topical and emotive session.
More to follow...
Opening this section was Wales’ own Dr Tony Calland, Chair of the BMA Ethics Committee, who outlined the issues that the Committee continues to work on: top-up payments; pandemic flu; presumed consent; compulsory vaccinations; assisted dying and Clause 152 of the Coroners and Justice Bill, which relates to the sharing of patient records (after a successful campaign the BMA recently managed to get this clause removed from the Bill).
On to the motions:
The first relates to spiritual care in the NHS – it follows this story. The motions which passed recognised that the NHS is committed to providing spiritual care to patients and noted guidance from the GMC on the inappropriate discussion of faith issues. Faith is obviously a sensitive and highly personal subject which would explain the heated debate which followed. While recognizing the importance of faith as a part of holistic health care, conference fell short of supporting doctors initiating the issue with patients.
Next up, a motion objecting to the proposed use of TV advertising for abortion services. The motion, proposed by the Yorkshire Regional Council, stated that the adverts will give the wrong message to young women and promotes sex as a values-free activity with a quick medical fix. For many different reasons, the motion fell and in my view, rightly so. It is important that patients receive as much information as possible, particularly women in a situation where they have to consider the complex and distressing decision of whether to continue with a pregnancy or not. As doctors, we have a duty to ensure that our patients have as much information as possible while exercising their right to choose.
Finally in the Medical Ethics section: assisted dying. This motion called for those people accompanying the patient in an assisted death, but not actively participating, be exempt from prosecution; and for patients who are terminally ill but who have full mental capacity to be allowed to make a choice on assisted death. Baroness Ilora Finlay spoke eloquently against this motion drawing on her particular expertise; and indeed both parts of the motion fell – although it was an extremely close vote with very convincing accounts from both sides.
So far it’s been a highly interesting, topical and emotive session.
More to follow...
Put children first in the fight to reduce health inequalities
Another motion up for debate yesterday at the ARM focused on safeguarding children and their futures.
Delegates are calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to put youngsters at the heart of every one of its department’s priorities, for the next two decades, to give ALL children the best start in life.
One way of dong this could be to increase the number of school nurses in Wales and for these nurses to also take responsibility for public health in schools.
With the measles outbreak which is sweeping through Wales at the moment, there has never been a better time for the WAG to honour its promise, laid down in the One Wales manifesto, to provide a minimum of one family nurse per secondary school by the end of the Assembly term.
I think School Public Health Nurses could have played an integral part in helping to prevent the current measles epidemic from spreading as much as it has by providing advice and guidance to parents.
We need to ensure ALL children are given the best possible start in life and where they go to school can have a big impact on this. That’s why, in the most deprived areas of Wales, we need to transform schools in to safe havens for those youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Very pleasant walk around the Albert dock by the way, shame I didn’t have my camera with me to take a few scenic shots to share with you all on here!
Delegates are calling on the Welsh Assembly Government to put youngsters at the heart of every one of its department’s priorities, for the next two decades, to give ALL children the best start in life.
One way of dong this could be to increase the number of school nurses in Wales and for these nurses to also take responsibility for public health in schools.
With the measles outbreak which is sweeping through Wales at the moment, there has never been a better time for the WAG to honour its promise, laid down in the One Wales manifesto, to provide a minimum of one family nurse per secondary school by the end of the Assembly term.
I think School Public Health Nurses could have played an integral part in helping to prevent the current measles epidemic from spreading as much as it has by providing advice and guidance to parents.
We need to ensure ALL children are given the best possible start in life and where they go to school can have a big impact on this. That’s why, in the most deprived areas of Wales, we need to transform schools in to safe havens for those youngsters from disadvantaged backgrounds.
Very pleasant walk around the Albert dock by the way, shame I didn’t have my camera with me to take a few scenic shots to share with you all on here!
Tuesday, 30 June 2009
ARM – day two - Chair of Welsh Council addresses conference
Dr Andrew Dearden, Chair of Welsh Council has opened day two of the ARM, in Liverpool.
In his address, Dr Dearden has just delivered an update of BMA Cymru Wales’ work over the last year, outlining the new-look Welsh NHS. He views the last twelve months as a success for the BMA in Wales, in engaging with both the profession and the public as well of course, as representing members.
A packed conference hall loudly applauded at the mention of the Welsh Assembly Government’s commitment to free accommodation for junior doctors, and at the wise and more enlightened approach the WAG has taken "to build a health service free from commercial pressures, free from competition and free from private, profit driven provision."
As Dr Dearden adds "We are also now beginning to see real benefits of political devolution. The health service in Wales remains true to the ideals of its founder, even if they have been forgotten or deemed irrelevant elsewhere".
But, it doesn’t end there. As we know the health service in Wales is far from perfect, and those working within it are facing fresh and difficult challenges. The historic legacy of under funding health in Wales, coupled with higher levels of disease and deprivation, is hard to overcome. That is why the current NHS re-organisation has to work, we can’t afford for it not to. And with proper and constructive clinical engagement, it will.
Our current focus is on the plight of Junior Doctors and Medical Students in Wales which we will be doing a lot of work on over the next year and beyond if necessary.
Dr Dearden told conference: "We will drive home our message to both hospital managers and politicians, that the effective training of junior doctors and medical students is not a luxury – it is not an optional extra, expendable in the face of targets, it is one of the most critical components for the future success of the NHS in Wales and the UK".
Dr Tony Calland, former Chair of Welsh Council, followed Dr Dearden’s address, putting forward a motion on IT in the Welsh NHS - another area where we seem to be leading on (it’s not often that a BMA Council proposes a motion praising Government – a fact that Dr Calland also recognised in his speech!) He states that WAG has taken a thoughtful and pragmatic approach to modernizing medical IT systems, and has worked closely with the profession to develop it – which is the key to its success, I’m sure.
It’s time for a lunchtime break and a quick walk around the Albert dock, preparing for this afternoon’s agenda which includes community care, mental health, safeguarding children and forensic medicine.
More to follow...
In his address, Dr Dearden has just delivered an update of BMA Cymru Wales’ work over the last year, outlining the new-look Welsh NHS. He views the last twelve months as a success for the BMA in Wales, in engaging with both the profession and the public as well of course, as representing members.
A packed conference hall loudly applauded at the mention of the Welsh Assembly Government’s commitment to free accommodation for junior doctors, and at the wise and more enlightened approach the WAG has taken "to build a health service free from commercial pressures, free from competition and free from private, profit driven provision."
As Dr Dearden adds "We are also now beginning to see real benefits of political devolution. The health service in Wales remains true to the ideals of its founder, even if they have been forgotten or deemed irrelevant elsewhere".
But, it doesn’t end there. As we know the health service in Wales is far from perfect, and those working within it are facing fresh and difficult challenges. The historic legacy of under funding health in Wales, coupled with higher levels of disease and deprivation, is hard to overcome. That is why the current NHS re-organisation has to work, we can’t afford for it not to. And with proper and constructive clinical engagement, it will.
Our current focus is on the plight of Junior Doctors and Medical Students in Wales which we will be doing a lot of work on over the next year and beyond if necessary.
Dr Dearden told conference: "We will drive home our message to both hospital managers and politicians, that the effective training of junior doctors and medical students is not a luxury – it is not an optional extra, expendable in the face of targets, it is one of the most critical components for the future success of the NHS in Wales and the UK".
Dr Tony Calland, former Chair of Welsh Council, followed Dr Dearden’s address, putting forward a motion on IT in the Welsh NHS - another area where we seem to be leading on (it’s not often that a BMA Council proposes a motion praising Government – a fact that Dr Calland also recognised in his speech!) He states that WAG has taken a thoughtful and pragmatic approach to modernizing medical IT systems, and has worked closely with the profession to develop it – which is the key to its success, I’m sure.
It’s time for a lunchtime break and a quick walk around the Albert dock, preparing for this afternoon’s agenda which includes community care, mental health, safeguarding children and forensic medicine.
More to follow...
Monday, 29 June 2009
Kicking off the ARM with a call to "Look after our NHS"
Day one of this year’s ARM in Liverpool began with BMA UK Chairman Dr Hamish Meldrum’s key address to delegates. The hall’s packed with around 500 doctors from all over the UK.
In his speech Dr Meldrum called on the Westminster Government to “end this ludicrous, divisive and expensive experiment of the market in healthcare in England.” He urged doctors to sign up to the BMA’s “Look After Our NHS” campaign which is gathering examples of how the market is impacting on the NHS. To much hand-clapping, he said there was never a better time to abandon market reforms in England.
In Wales, thankfully we have a Government in the Assembly that has rejected the internal market in healthcare and the commercialisation of the NHS. This has been continued, rightly so, in the recent reform programme.
As I listen to doctors from England who tell me their priority and loyalty to patients and patient care is being compromised by the need to meet tough and arbitrary financial targets, I am grateful to be a doctor living and working in Wales.
The NHS is facing some of the biggest and most serious challenges ever, as we move from a period of sustained growth in resources to one of, at best, stagnation in funding, and at worst, stringency, hardship and even cuts, in our health service.
Although the NHS in Wales has its own challenges, the concerns that I have listened to so far from doctors practicing in England go against the core principles of our health service. The Welsh Assembly Government certainly face serious challenges and criticisms in other areas, but rejecting commercialisation in our NHS is one very important thing that they have got right. Our NHS is and has to remain – Publically Funded, Publically Provided and Publically Accountable.
I will leave you with a quote from Dr Meldum’s address:
“We need to do everything possible to protect the healthcare budget and not concede that swingeing cuts are either inevitable or necessary… The profession is ready to work with whichever governments are in power, to look at the hard choices, to make the tough decisions on the basis of evidence, fairness, equity and trust … We need a whole-system and across-government approach to improve the health of the public, with every citizen involved …Only that way will we slow the inexorable rise in pressure on our National Illness Service and cope with the financial and clinical challenges that lie ahead.”
Watch this space, there’s plenty more ARM coverage to follow...
In his speech Dr Meldrum called on the Westminster Government to “end this ludicrous, divisive and expensive experiment of the market in healthcare in England.” He urged doctors to sign up to the BMA’s “Look After Our NHS” campaign which is gathering examples of how the market is impacting on the NHS. To much hand-clapping, he said there was never a better time to abandon market reforms in England.
In Wales, thankfully we have a Government in the Assembly that has rejected the internal market in healthcare and the commercialisation of the NHS. This has been continued, rightly so, in the recent reform programme.
As I listen to doctors from England who tell me their priority and loyalty to patients and patient care is being compromised by the need to meet tough and arbitrary financial targets, I am grateful to be a doctor living and working in Wales.
The NHS is facing some of the biggest and most serious challenges ever, as we move from a period of sustained growth in resources to one of, at best, stagnation in funding, and at worst, stringency, hardship and even cuts, in our health service.
Although the NHS in Wales has its own challenges, the concerns that I have listened to so far from doctors practicing in England go against the core principles of our health service. The Welsh Assembly Government certainly face serious challenges and criticisms in other areas, but rejecting commercialisation in our NHS is one very important thing that they have got right. Our NHS is and has to remain – Publically Funded, Publically Provided and Publically Accountable.
I will leave you with a quote from Dr Meldum’s address:
“We need to do everything possible to protect the healthcare budget and not concede that swingeing cuts are either inevitable or necessary… The profession is ready to work with whichever governments are in power, to look at the hard choices, to make the tough decisions on the basis of evidence, fairness, equity and trust … We need a whole-system and across-government approach to improve the health of the public, with every citizen involved …Only that way will we slow the inexorable rise in pressure on our National Illness Service and cope with the financial and clinical challenges that lie ahead.”
Watch this space, there’s plenty more ARM coverage to follow...
Thursday, 25 June 2009
How BMA membership can get Junior Doctors discounted access to exam revision tools
Following on from my post about the ARM next week, there will of course be many initiatives being announced there, but I thought I’d give junior doctors and medical students in Wales a heads up on one.
BMA and OnExamination are going to be providing members with a 33% discount off OnExamination’s Junior Doctor exam revision resources, being demonstrated at the ARM next Wednesday.
The Junior Doctor revision resources include:
• MRCP Part 1
• MRCP Part 2
• MRCPCH Part 1 A and B
• MRCOG Part 1
• MRCOG Part 2
• MRCS Part A Papers 1 and 2
• FRCA Primary
• MRCGP
• DRCOG
• MRCPsych Paper 1 and 2
As well as the 33% discount now available on Junior Doctor exam revision resources, the same level of discount is also available for Medical Students in Year 1, Medical Student Years 2-3 and Medical Student Finals. This has been coupled with 50% off BNF Prescribing Practice for Medical Students and free access to Medical Student Fresher.
Visit the OnExamination website for more details.
BMA and OnExamination are going to be providing members with a 33% discount off OnExamination’s Junior Doctor exam revision resources, being demonstrated at the ARM next Wednesday.
The Junior Doctor revision resources include:
• MRCP Part 1
• MRCP Part 2
• MRCPCH Part 1 A and B
• MRCOG Part 1
• MRCOG Part 2
• MRCS Part A Papers 1 and 2
• FRCA Primary
• MRCGP
• DRCOG
• MRCPsych Paper 1 and 2
As well as the 33% discount now available on Junior Doctor exam revision resources, the same level of discount is also available for Medical Students in Year 1, Medical Student Years 2-3 and Medical Student Finals. This has been coupled with 50% off BNF Prescribing Practice for Medical Students and free access to Medical Student Fresher.
Visit the OnExamination website for more details.
Tuesday, 23 June 2009
Gearing up for the ARM
I’m really looking forward to the BMA’s Annual Representative’s Meeting (ARM), which starts next week, Monday June 29th.
Most of our members will no doubt be aware what the ARM is, but for anyone reading this who doesn’t know, it is basically where all policy-making decisions for the BMA are decided. It’s held in a different part of the UK each year, with everyone heading to Liverpool this year.
It should be a particularly productive ARM, with many motions being debated including a number of controversial public health and ethical issues such as assisted dying, abortion TV adverts, compulsory immunisation for children and teenage binge drinking.
Dr Andrew Dearden, Welsh Council chairman will be delivering his first speech in this capacity next Tuesday, which will be a key address for Welsh members to watch.
If you are unable to attend, you can watch events unfold online on the BMA website (http://www.bma.public-i.tv) and of course, I will be blogging from there too, so you can keep up-to-date by checking my blog.
Most of our members will no doubt be aware what the ARM is, but for anyone reading this who doesn’t know, it is basically where all policy-making decisions for the BMA are decided. It’s held in a different part of the UK each year, with everyone heading to Liverpool this year.
It should be a particularly productive ARM, with many motions being debated including a number of controversial public health and ethical issues such as assisted dying, abortion TV adverts, compulsory immunisation for children and teenage binge drinking.
Dr Andrew Dearden, Welsh Council chairman will be delivering his first speech in this capacity next Tuesday, which will be a key address for Welsh members to watch.
If you are unable to attend, you can watch events unfold online on the BMA website (http://www.bma.public-i.tv) and of course, I will be blogging from there too, so you can keep up-to-date by checking my blog.
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