This guidance has been produced to clarify where the responsibility for patients lies during the referral process, to advise clinicians on circumstances where they feel that they have not been sufficiently involved in the diagnosis and preparation of a patient, and to highlight the requirements for obtaining patient consent.
On the day the Healthcare Commission publishes its report on Independent Sector Treatment Centres (ISTCs), the BMA issues results from its own survey revealing senior doctors’ concerns about the ISTC programme.
The Central Consultants and Specialists Committee and General Practitioners Committee have produced a joint document which aims to set out the key guiding principles of referral management schemes.
PCTs in Cumbria and Lancashire have isssued a consultation seeking the public’s views on the establishment of a Clinical Assessment, Treatment and Support (CATS) service in Cumbria and Lancashire. The BMA are raising all these questions and concerns at national level and require your feedback.
Little is known about the full impact of alternative providers of NHS care, in particular treatment centres, on their surroundings. This report gives the results of a BMA survey of clinical directors from those specialities most likely to be affected.
BMA guidance on the transfer of clinical activity from NHS employers to independent sector treatment centres. Some medical staff are being asked to work in ISTCs under structured secondment arrangements and the guidance explains what this entails and sets out the BMA's position.