Pleased with the DM article that accurately sums up some of the values I live my life by (albeit they used some unkind words to do so), plus they chose a flattering photo. Anyone feeling solidarity with me is very welcome to donate to the Strike Fund too! bmastrikefund.raisely.com/

BMA FoI data reveals trusts are substituting doctors on medical rotas and covering doctor gaps with advanced practitioners. @ThomasDolphin talks about our work in this area and what is next.

A pleasure to be part of a panel today at the @BritishIMA conference in Glasgow talking about antiracism in the workplace, workforce planning failure, and GMC processes. Really interesting discussion and nice to meet one of our new Council members, Huda, afterwards too!

Great pleasure to meet with delegates from South Korea’s KPTU union to discuss organising, workplace power and workforce planning. Want to guess how many years a new law in S Korea binds doctors to their region (on pain of deregistratation if they try to work elsewhere)? Ten!

Congratulations to all those elected to BMA Council, and thank you to the (many!) other candidates who stood up to be counted. Looking forward to working with new colleagues to take our union forward! bma.org.uk/what-we-do/uk-nat…

There’s a fairly plausible-looking phishing scam going round on this site. It manifests as a DM, likely from someone you know, asking you to vote for them for an unspecified role. When you log in to the “voting site” with your SoMe account, it will steal your details. (I didn’t!)

The Tories want to scrap facility time. That’s the time union reps use to help workers, resolve problems and keep people safe at work. This isn’t reform. It’s an attack on working people, and it’s exactly what we’ve come to expect from the Tories. cityam.com/tories-pledge-to-…

We have uncovered a haphazard approach to the use of Advanced Practitioner (AP) roles by NHS trusts. Our investigation has revealed almost half of hospital trusts are using non-doctors to fill doctor rota gaps.   APs can play an important and valued role in patient care. But they should not be asked to substitute for doctors to address staffing gaps.   Patients shouldn’t have to worry about whether NHS managers have asked non-doctors to deliver care that only doctors can safely deliver. Read the full story: bma.org.uk/news-and-opinion/…

🚨 UPDATE - RIGHT TO STRIKE Last week, we set out our concerns that Ministers had failed to rule out a move to limit the right to strike by banning resident doctors from taking strike action. We’re pleased that today, following our statement, DHSC Minister Stephen Kinnock has clarified the Government’s position. Speaking in Parliament, he said: “𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘓𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘶𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵. 𝘐𝘵 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘥𝘰 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘰𝘧 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘤𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴. 𝘞𝘦 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘰𝘳𝘨𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘨𝘰 𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘤𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘻𝘦𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘣𝘦 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵.” He’s right to say that imposing restrictions on unions is “just not what the Labour Party is about”, and we welcome the Government listening to unions and finally putting these rumours to bed.

🥳WIN for UNISON Porter Drivers at Greater Manchester Mental Health ..........

Don't try pitting us against other workers. We aren't your convenient argument. We support each other in the trade union movement. The RMT dispute isn't even about pay, its about hours and fatigue.

I’m pushing my luck sending my voting form for the BMA’s Council election back this late. Don’t miss your chance - post yours back ASAP! It must be back with Civica by 27 April ⏳⌛️

Wow. Recent @RCollEM survey found Emergency Departments operating at 176% of capacity. Imagine an aircraft, a shop, a restaurant or any other public facing industry being expected to perform perfectly at this sort of figure!

➡️ @UKLabour must immediately rule out the threat of limiting the right to strike for resident doctors. #NHS and other workers went towards danger in Covid, while the rich and powerful were receiving parcels at home by the hour. Do the right thing by workers now. @TheBMA #ResidentDoctors #BMA

🚨NEW: Joint Statement from National TULO on the right to strike. labourunions.org.uk/right-to…

Many thanks @AndreaEganGS - when politicians attack unions for doing their job of representing members, they are attacking the members of that union, and they are attacking all unions. Standing together is how we win fights; power comes from solidarity.

Absolutely disgraceful racism from @jkyleofficial on @TalkTV. As the camera zooms in on me and @DrHWazir on the picket line, he sneers that “a lot of them have come into this country to be doctors.” He based this solely on the colour of my skin. I was born in the UK. I studied and trained in the UK and I currently work as a doctor in the NHS. My grandfather fought for this country in WW2. This is racist, demeaning, and utterly unacceptable.

If any of Matt’s Stockton constituents have a stroke outside of office hours, on any day of the week, they will be denied a particular life saving stroke treatment called mechanical thrombectomy. We don’t have enough radiologists in Teesside to deliver that stroke treatment out of hours in an already stretched service. His Tory govt’s approach to workforce planning was a binfire and his constituents are suffering as a result. Instead of solutions, he is more interested in muzzling those raising the alarm, to the continued detriment of his constituents.

Today, doctors across the country are out taking strike action. This dispute is driven by an entirely avoidable crisis on jobs and pay. Right now, resident doctors are facing a real terms pay cut and growing unemployment. They need jobs and fair pay for the work they do. No one wants to strike. But without a credible offer on the table, doctors are left with no alternative.