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Medical Academic Staff Committee annual report 2007-08

May 2008

Foreword from Co-Chairs of Committee
The Medical Academic Staff Committee (MASC) represents hospital doctors and general practitioners employed by universities or research institutions, and for the first time has co-chairs. In addition, our core team relies heavily on our Deputy Chairs Dr Peter Dangerfield and Professor Geraint Rees to whom we owe a debt of thanks. This arrangement has proved beneficial and cost-effective both to the BMA and the MASC, as the level and complexity of our work has been increasing, and a team approach has facilitated a broader based representation of members.

The MASC has an open and very democratic structure. We encourage members to serve on our Executive and Regional Services Liaison subcommittees, and ensure a wide range of members represent academics at all the political and professional committees in the BMA. We have close ties with other craft committees and use deputies or teleconferencing as economic alternatives when punishing academic and clinical schedules do not permit physical presence at important meetings.

The BMA now also welcomes visitors to their craft committees so that the process by which we represent your interests can be scrutinised, and we hope to introduce a visitor scheme to MASC in the coming year. More importantly we hope that this scheme, and our communications to you, will encourage your participation so that MASC can continue to engage and influence educational and research issues within and outside the BMA.

As co-chairs we acknowledge the very keen administrative support from our MASC secretariat and warmly thank the office team – Sally Girgis, Jane Daniels and, for the handbook, Lucy Cork – for all their hard work on your behalf.

We held a very successful and over subscribed conference for academic trainees in November to help support, listen to and learn from academic trainees. This conference, as well as our constant contact with the Conference of Medical Academic Representatives listserver has helped shape our policy direction on issues affecting academic trainees.

We are aware that at a local level medical academics still require constant employment and professional support. As the cost of membership services rise each year, we are adamant that academic doctors get the most appropriate responses from askBMA, BMA counselling services, Local Negotiating Committees, and Industrial Relations Officers and have been working closely with other parts of the BMA to facilitate this.

The 2007-8 year has seen major changes in academic training, research assessment in universities and in the applications of government legislation on governance and equality. We have aimed to reflect the diversity of our members. By the time this reaches you, the Women in Academic Medicine Project will have launched its Full Report; the report has identified barriers to career progression for women in universities which the MASC will take action on.

We know that medical academics are employed in a variety of Higher Education Institutions, not just those with medical schools and this is reflected in the new edition of the Good University Employment Guide. In addition, we have made contact with Staff and Associate Specialist academics through the new Staff and Associate Specialist contract, have developed lines of communication with trainees across all levels of the academic training programme and participated in the Medical Students Conference.

Finally, through a small change to our Constitution, the nations are now automatic partners in MASC. We welcome the exchange of ideas that individuals and nations bring to our policies.

Best Wishes,

Emeritus Professor Anita Holdcroft
Co-Chair

Professor Michael Rees
Co-Chair

Download the report in PDF format using the link on the right