Medical Academic Staff Committee annual report 2007-08
May 2008
- Foreword from the Co-chairs of Committee
- Membership of the Committee for the session 2007-08
- Strategic areas of focus
- Negotiating issues
- Academic training and Modernising Medical Careers
- NHS reform and career development
- Employment and policy handbook for academic members
- Annual Conferences
- Communications, regional services and the membership
- Reports from the Committees in the Nations Scottish Medical Academic Staff Committee
- Welsh Medical Academic Staff Committee
- Northern Ireland Medical Academic Staff Committee
- Supporting the Medical Academic Staff 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 Professor Michael Rees
Co-Chair Co-Chair
Membership of the Committee for the session 2007-08
Elected by Conference of Medical Academic Representatives (COMAR)
Mr David Adams, Royal Hospitals Group, Belfast (Chair, NI MASC)
Mr Philip Belcher, University of Glasgow (Chair, SMASC)
Dr Martyn Bracewell, University of Wales Bangor
Dr Christine Burness, University of Sheffield
Dr Kenneth Checinski, St George’s Hospital Medical School
Dr Peter Dangerfield, University of Liverpool (Deputy Chair of MASC and Chair of COMAR)
Dr Mohamed El-Sheemy, University of Lincoln
Dr Mark Gabbay, University of Liverpool
Dr Anita Holdcroft, Chelsea & Westminster Hospital, Imperial College London (Co-Chair of MASC)
Professor David Katz, University College London
Dr Sumantra Ray, University of Dundee (Deputy Chair of COMAR)
Dr Minha Rajput-Ray, University of Dundee
Professor Geraint Rees, University College London (Deputy Chair of MASC)
Professor Michael Rees, University of Wales Bangor (Co-Chair of MASC)
Dr Mourad Seif, Manchester University
Dr Joannis Vamvakopoulos, University of Birmingham
Dr John Xuereb, University of Cambridge
Representatives from other BMA Committees
Nominated by the Central Consultants and Specialists Committee - Dr Geoffrey Lewis
Nominated by the Junior Doctors Committee - Dr Caroline Methuen
Nominated by the Medical Students Committee - Mr Nicholas Black
Nominated by the Staff and Associated Specialists Committee - Dr Greg Dilliway
Representatives from the British Dental Association
Dr Ross Hobson, University of Newcastle
Professor Damien Walmsley, University of Birmingham
Co-opted members
Welsh Medical Academic Staff Committee - Professor Bharat Jasani (Chair of WMASC)
Society of Academic Foundation Trainees - Dr Olivia Kingston
Medical Women’s Federation - Professor Selena Gray
Members ex-officio
Observers
Society of Academic Primary Care - Professor Paul Wallace
Conference of Postgraduate Education Deans - Professor Elizabeth Paice
BMA Board of Science - Sir Charles George
BMA Patient Liaison Group - Ms Carol Webley-Brown
BMA chief officers
Immediate Past BMA President - Professor Parveen Kumar
Chairman of the Representative Body - Dr Peter Bennie
Chairman of BMA Council - Dr Hamish Meldrum
BMA Treasurer - Dr David Pickersgill
Strategic areas of focus
The work of the committee for the past session has been driven by focusing on areas of strategic importance as determined by the MASC Executive Subcommittee at its annual away day.
Core areas of activity that were highlighted by the subcommittee are:
- Negotiating issues
- Academic training and Modernising Medical Careers
- NHS reform and career development
- Employment and policy handbook
- Communications, regional services and the membership
been kept up to date on the progress towards achieving these objectives.
This annual report highlights our work in respect of these strategic areas and the extent to which we have made progress in 2007-08. Not all areas of work over the past session fall neatly into the strategic objectives defined at the beginning of the session, and as issues have arisen, the MASC has endeavoured to take action that is in the best interests on medical academics.
Over the summer, we will be surveying academic members to determine what you feel are the most pressing issues facing academic medicine in the UK, in your institution and area of expertise. In this way, you, as a BMA member, will have an opportunity to feed into the direction and work of the committee in 2008-09.
Negotiating issues
Improving negotiating structures for academics
Strategic objective: Special attention will be paid to setting up a negotiating structure through which the MASC can talk directly to university and NHS employer representatives, and others about specific employment problems encountered by clinical academics, including trainees.
A review of the negotiating machinery for the higher education sector – JNCHES (the Joint Negotiating Committee for the Higher Education Sector) – has been taking place over the course of the year.
Negotiating arrangements for medical academics fall under the umbrella of JNCHES. In particular, the committee which ensures that clinical academics receive the same pay uplift as doctors that work in the NHS - CASSC (the Clinical Academic Staff Sub-committee) – has formed part of the sector-wide review. In recent years, the CASSC has not met formally to agree translation of the annual pay recommendation by the Doctors and Dentists Review Body (DDRB), rather translation has taken place by correspondence between the relevant secretariats. This approach has meant a much smoother process, with less delay in clinical academics receiving their annual pay award.
A strategic focus for the committee has been to use the JNCHES review to improve negotiating structures for medical academics. We have, in discussion with the Universities and Colleges Employers Association (UCEA), used the review to develop an automatic process of DDRB translation through the secretariats, while building in safeguards to meet and discuss in the unlikely event that translation is not agreed.
The MASC has also used the review as an opportunity to improve relations with the many stakeholders that are involved in the employment of medical academics. We have called for the creation of a stakeholder forum, comprising of the BMA, the British Dental Association, UCEA, NHS Employers and others, including for example, the Department of Health Research and Development Branch. In what is a significant step forward, UCEA are agreed that an annual stakeholder forum should be established and we have been working closely to agree the final arrangements for the first and future forums.
At the time of writing, progress on agreeing documentation to formalise the automatic translation of the DDRB award and the stakeholder forum has been delayed due to the results of a University and Colleges Union (UCU) ballot, which opposed proposals for single table bargaining in the new JNCHES arrangements for the wider higher education sector.
Consultant Clinical Academic Contract
Since the introduction of the Clinical Academic Consultant contract in 2004, the MASC has been working with UCEA to ensure that any changes that are made to the NHS Consultant Contract are reflected in it as much as possible.
In 2007-08, a discrepancy was identified in sections of the contract which determine the starting salary of clinical academics, which may have led to institutions using the incorrect starting salary for clinical academics. We have worked to rectify this anomaly and believe that the change is likely to be of benefit because it should remove doubt as to the correct starting salary to use. To read about the changes in more detail, go to http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/CCACCdocumentation2007
Clinical Excellence Awards
ACCEA (the Advisory Committee on Clinical Excellence Awards) proposed that all CEA (Clinical Excellence Award) applications from clinical academics would require two signatures; one from the NHS and another from the university, in contrast to the one signature required for applications submitted by NHS consultants.
Although ACCEA stated that the proposal was not intended to disadvantage clinical academics, the MASC considered that such a change would potentially make it more difficult to clinical academics to get the necessary signature in the context of an already challenging timetable. Following representations from the MASC, ACCEA reversed its suggestion that clinical academics would be required to have joint signatories for CEA applications.
ACCEA also undertook significant revisions to the guidance documents on the CEA scheme in 2007-08, and asked for input from the MASC in developing these. We provided detailed comments particularly to the Guide for Applicants and the Guide for Nominating Bodies. The resulting guides are a significant improvement on previous documents. To access the guides, go to http://www.advisorybodies.doh.gov.uk/accea/2008round.htm#guide
We are currently in the process of submitting amendments to ACCEA’s 2009 Guide for Nominating Bodies which we hope will increase transparency in the nomination process through universities.
Good University Employment Guide
Strategic objective: A second report on the facilities available and the employment policies in force at each medical school in the UK and information will be sought from higher education institutions that employ clinical academics.
This session saw publication of the first edition of the Good University Employment Guide. The rationale for producing the guide is to enable members to make informed judgements about selecting where they wish to work, based on the factors that are important to them. The guide also provides the opportunity for medical schools to outline their strengths and what they are most proud of in terms of research and teaching outcomes, and human resources practices. The publication collates the results of questions asked by UK medical schools about their staff, students and employment arrangements. A copy of the 2007 guide can be downloaded from http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Uniemployment
The guide has been well received by members and medical schools and we are in the process of producing an updated guide, which will also include entries from non-medical school higher education institutions. The next edition is expected to be published at or shortly after the COMAR.
Women in academic medicine
Strategic objective: Working with key stakeholders, the MASC will support the publication of and seek to progress the recommendations of the Women in Academic Medicine report
The research project Women in Academic Medicine developing equality in governance and management for career progression was published in 2007-08. This seminal piece of work, funded by the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s Leadership, Governance and Management Fund, the BMA’s Health Policy and Economic Research Unit and the Medical Women’s Federation, made numerous recommendations around:
- The appointment and promotions process
- Structures systems and activities in place regarding career progression
- Organisational arrangements and cultures
- Flexibility in working life
Contractual arrangements for academic trainees
Following from views expressed at the Clinical Academic Training Conference – Progress So Far (see page 13), the MASC is committed to calling for an integrated contract for academic trainees which outlines the rights and responsibilities of those involved in clinical academic training.
In late 2007, proposals were put forward by the Department of Health Research and Development Branch to move the employment of Academic Clinical Fellows (ACFs) from substantive NHS employment to employment by the universities. This is despite ACFs spending 75% of time undertaking clinical training and only 25% undertaking academic duties.
The MASC considers that there are merits in the proposal to transfer the employment to universities if links between medical schools, postgraduate and the NHS improves the management of the Integrated Academic Training Pathway. However, if the Integrated Academic Training Pathway is to be a success and comply with the recommendations of the Follett report, academic trainees must have similar contracts to, and be on the same terms and conditions of service, as their junior doctor colleagues, regardless of who the substantive employer is.
We consider that the best way of providing certainty for junior doctors and ensuring that academic training appointments are Follett friendly, is through the development of integrated documentation that specifies the rights and responsibilities in the clinical and academic parts of the post. In order to ensure that trainees are not discouraged away from academic medicine because of inferior terms, conditions and pay, this documentation must be based on the nationally agreed terms and conditions for junior doctors working in the NHS. Work on this important issue is ongoing.
See the section entitled Academic training and MMC – the future of the ACF programme on page 9 for more information on the proposed changes to academic training.
Academic training and Modernising Medical Careers
Strategic objective: A good level of support will be provided for those considering entering, and those that have secured, an academic post, especially Academic Clinical Fellowship (ACF) posts, those undertaking the step out period to complete a higher degree and those undertaking Clinical Lectureships (CL). This will include influencing the recruitment and selection process and arguing for integrated contracts for clinical academic trainees.
Academic Clinical Fellowships commencing in 2007
Much of the focus of the committee in 2007-08 has been to facilitate the recruitment to ACF posts, beginning with attempts to ameliorate the inclusion of ACF posts in the failed Medical Training Application Service (MTAS) system. The fill rate for posts that commenced in 2007 was low with only 57% of posts filled by the end of the second round of recruitment. While the MASC considers that this was partly due to the lack of visibility of a few hundred academic posts amongst thousands of specialty training posts, poor advertising and a lack of national coordination did not help advertise academic training. In a year where the competition for training posts was extremely intense and hopes for the success of the integrated academic training pathway were high, the outcome was
very disappointing.
In addition to making direct representations to key stakeholders to improve the visibility and accessibility of academic training posts, the MASC sought to keep junior doctors informed about the opportunities to apply for academic training, providing information to junior doctors and academics through mass emails, and via regular articles in BMA News.
Tooke Inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers
In the wake of the MTAS disaster, Professor Sir John Tooke was asked by the Secretary of State for Health to convene an inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers. The MASC produced a detailed submission to the inquiry, entitled Clinical Academic Training – a lost opportunity which made recommendations for improving the recruitment process. We recommended that ACF posts should be advertised before clinical recruitment and that appointments should be based on a revised application form and an objective scoring form. We further recommended that a central body (for example the Department of Health’s National Coordinating Centre for Research Capacity and Development) should take responsibility for collating and disseminating descriptions and information about specific ACF programmes and posts.
Before submitting our evidence, we consulted with members of the COMAR electronic listserver to ensure that grassroots academics were content with the approach we were taking. We were very pleased that many academics commented on the draft submission and that our views were broadly supported. A copy of the evidence can be accessed at http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Clinicalacademictraining
Sir John published his final report Aspiring to Excellence: Final Report of the Independent Inquiry into Modernising Medical Careers in January 2008. Amongst the many recommendations, were proposals that all ACF posts commence at ST1, that the foundation programme should be abolished and that postgraduate training should be comprised of core and higher specialty training. The Secretary of State’s response to the Tooke report was published in March 2008. See the links below to access the reports on line http://www.mmcinquiry.org.uk/MMC_FINAL_REPORT_REVD_4jan.pdf
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/DH_083203. The BMA’s response to the interim report can be found at http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Tookeresponse
Academic Clinical Fellowships commencing in 2008
A Department of Health Task and Finish Group was established to determine the arrangements for ACF recruitment in 2008. As members of this Group, the MASC influenced the recruitment process for 2008 ACF posts for example, by developing a national scoring template and contributing to the design of application and person specification forms. In accordance with recommendations from the MASC, ACF posts were advertised ahead of the main clinical round, and according to nationally agreed application and scoring criteria.
The first round of recruitment for ACFs commencing in 2008, resulted in a 77% fill rate, a significant improvement on the previous year’s figures. The remaining posts are still being recruited to through postgraduate deaneries.
Academic Clinical Fellowships commencing in 2009
A number of recommendations from the Tooke report require further consideration with regard for 2009 ACF recruitment. For example, Tooke recommended that all ACF posts should commence at ST1, and that foundation and run-through training should be replaced by core training of two years followed by higher specialty training. While the latter coincides with the decision of a number of specialties to decouple and not offer run-through training in 2008 and beyond, these proposals do not fit with the current three year ACF programme.
The MASC believes that ACFs should be appointed at what is the most appropriate point locally, including at ST1 and higher. We also consider that appointments should be to a three year post, given that is the current structure of the ACF programme, and given that academic training posts are not run-through because competition occurs at several points on the academic training pathway. We will continue to argue for this position with key academic stakeholders and via our representation on the MMC Programme Board (England).
The future of the ACF programme
In late 2007, due to reported problems with recruitment to and implementation of ACF programmes in England, the National Institute for Health Research consulted on proposed changes to the future of the ACF programme. These include:
- Simplifying the process of allocating training posts by allocating two thirds of posts to medical schools according to a nationally agreed formula and one third of posts by competition;
- Ensuring that medical schools appoint ACFs to posts using nationally agreed forms and processes;
- Creating stronger research training by requiring that ACFs complete a MRes;
- Placing pastoral responsibility for and the appointment of ACF posts with medical and dental schools.
NHS terms and conditions.
More information on progress toward agreeing these principles with external stakeholders is expected shortly.
NHS reform and academic medicine
Strategic Objective: To ensure that the importance of academic medicine is taken into account in the context of wider reforms in the NHS such moving care closer to home and Lord Darzi’s Next Stage Review, and that the BMA’s position on such developments includes education and research.
The MASC has supported the emergence of new types of structures to support clinical research and academic medicine in the NHS from a new governance arrangement between Imperial College London, St Mary’s Hospital Trust and Hammersmith Hospital Trust to the establishment of new biomedical research centres in Manchester and London. We have highlighted the potential of these new organisational arrangements to the BMA’s working group on System Reform, which is developing the BMA’s position on NHS reforms. Already published are documents on Caring for the NHS: the Rational Way Forward and An NHS Constitution for England. See http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/content/CaringNHS for more information.
The MASC has been commissioned to produce a document highlighting the importance of academic medicine to the NHS and of ensuring that education, training and research are properly integrated into NHS reforms. The document is close to completion and is intended to be published at or shortly after COMAR.
In the meantime, we have been highlighting the importance of ensuring that education, training and research are properly integrated into other NHS reforms. For example, following the raiding of the MPET (Multi-profession Education and Training) budget in 2006 to fund deficits elsewhere in the NHS, we have called for the ring fencing of the MPET budget both the BMA’s evidence to the Tooke Inquiry into MMC and in direct representations to the Secretary of State for Health. We are pleased that Tooke’s final report has recommended the establishment of NHS:MEE (Medical Education England) a board that would, if implemented in full, hold the medical elements of the MPET budget. Although responses received so far indicate that government is not in favour of ring fencing MPET, we are hopeful that the government’s final report in June will establish NHS:MEE and go some way to protecting money for teaching and training.
The MASC has also been involved in the review of the NHS being undertaking by Lord Darzi, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Department of Health, through membership of the Health Innovation Council and the Next Stage Review Education, Funding and Commissioning Workgroup. The most significant proposal is that medical SIFT (the Service Increment for Teaching) be allocated according to a national tariff and be extended to other healthcare professionals. While the MASC is in favour of increasing the transparency of SIFT, we are concerned that rapid shifts in funding flows will destabilise teaching hospitals that have traditionally relied on significant amounts of SIFT funding. Darzi’s final report is expected in June.
We have also expressed public concern that the development new NHS configurations, such as polyclinics, have not taken into account research or the need to education future doctors. The MASC considers that education and research should be a fundamental part of the of development plans for polyclinics. We are seeking assurances that
- The appropriate funding is available – because delivering education and training raises costs
- The design of polyclinics contains the physical space to teach
- Appropriately qualified staff are employed in polyclinics to deliver education and training
- Proper access to patients and the central records system for research/clinical trials is available to ensure that advances being made through the Primary Care Research Network (PCRN) are not lost.
Strategic objective: It has been the stated aim of the MASC to produce a reference document specifically for academic members of the Association, covering issues such as terms and conditions of service and the elements and structures that comprise an academic career.
We have commenced work on a handbook intended to provide BMA members with an authoritative, one-stop resource for information about a career in academic medicine and containing core information about employment terms and conditions.
The handbook will cover job practicalities such as contracts, pay and pensions and job planning. It will also set academic medicine in a broader context, looking at the role of the MASC and the BMA national structures, as well as the wider academic environment such as medical research and education, in order to improve understanding about the opportunities available within a career in academic medicine.
The areas to be covered in the handbook have been agreed by the MASC and we are currently writing the content, using the expertise of members of the Committee.
It is intended that the handbook will be published by the end of 2008. If you have any suggestions
for areas that should be included in the handbook, please email info.masc@bma.org.uk
Annual Conferences
Conference of Medical Academic Representative 2007
COMAR was held on Tuesday 13 March 2007 at BMA House, London. Representatives from all areas of academic medicine gathered to hear the keynote speeches, debate key issues and set priorities, for and elect the sixteen members of the Medical Academic Staff Committee for the coming year.
In 2007 the conference took on a different format; keynote speakers introduced topics including the Integrated Academic Training Pathway, Best Research for Best Health and medical academic careers
in the pharmaceutical industry, which were then discussed by representatives in facilitated breakout sessions during which motions were produced.
This changed format enabled representatives to become more actively involved in the development
of motions, and hence policy for the MASC for the 2007-2008 session. As feedback from the new structure was positive, a similar format for COMAR 2008 is being followed.
Inaugural Academic Training Conference 2007
For the first time, the MASC held a conference specifically aimed at clinical academic trainees. It was entitled Clinical Academic Training: Progress so far, and held on Saturday 17 November 2007 at BMA House in London. The conference was oversubscribed and attracted in excess of 100 delegates from a wide range disciplines and grades including Academic Foundation Year doctors, those undertaking Academic Clinical Fellowships, Clinical Lecturers and Clinical Research Fellows. Senior academics also attended the event and it was webcast in order to allow participation for those unsuccessful in securing a place.
The conference aimed to give practical advice to trainees interested in a career in academic medicine and also to engage with trainees, and get their views on the new career pathway. Delegates received keynote presentations on topics including the role of postgraduate deaneries in academic training, the structure of academic training, and mentoring.
Facilitated group discussions allowed delegates to discuss the topics which had been covered throughout the morning, along with their own personal experiences and opinions of academic careers and training. Key issues raised in the discussion groups included concerns over the complexity of academic contracts, the academic pay structure and the need for parity with NHS trainees or consultants, and concerns that the level of clinical skills achieved by ACF/CLs would not be as comprehensive as that of other trainees, which may hinder a future clinical career.
Presentations delivered on the day and a full report of conference can be found at http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/Reportonacademic192007
A webcast of the conference can be accessed at
http://www.bma.public-i.tv/site/player/pl_compact.php?a=11136&t=&m=wm&l=en_GB
Due to the success and overwhelming popularity of the conference and the positive feedback, the MASC intends to host a further Conference on Saturday 22 November 2008. We have also established an electronic forum for delegates that attended the event both to keep trainees up to
date with current news and to seek their views on important issues.
Communications, regional services and the membership
MASC Regional Services Liaison Group
Strategic objective: Continue to develop the regional services liaison group as a forum for monitoring employment issues that affect academics across the UK. Use the group as a source of expert advice on employment law in respect of medical academics.
Established to provide better co-ordination between the central MASC and BMA regional and national offices, the Regional Services Liaison Group has continued to meet throughout the past year. The group is comprised of employment advisors and industrial relations officers from BMA regional services, in addition to a small number of members of the MASC.
Areas that the group have focused on include over the past year include:
- Services offered to academic BMA members
An audit of the services provided to medical academics through askBMA and the regional offices has been carried out. Guidance aimed to help staff in these centres handling queries from medical academics has been issued by the MASC. - Academic involvement in Local Negotiating Committees
Regional offices have made efforts to identify the number of Local Negotiating Committees at Trusts with substantive academic members, and to encourage medical academics to become involved with these important committees. - Trade Union recognition
The Liaison Group has continued to work to explore all options with regard to collective trade union recognition in medical schools. Regional advisors are re-establishing contact with the local University and Colleges Union representatives and HR representatives in order to keep abreast of employment issues affecting academics on campus.
Strategic objective: To adopt an open approach to all its activities as far as possible, especially by increasing the volume of direct communications with the membership. Continue to seek two way feedback on issues of importance with grassroots members (including academics in training) when issues of policy are being decided.
The MASC has sought to have an open approach to all its activities and to increase communications with the membership over the past year. In order to achieve this, the MASC has undertaken a number of initiatives:
- Newsletters
The MASC produces a newsletter after each meeting of the MASC and the Executive Subcommittee. The newsletter provides information on items of discussion at committee meetings, important developments as well as information on events which may be of interest. The newsletter is circulated as widely as possible via mass email to the membership and through the MASC and COMAR listservers. - BMA website
As the BMA website has changed structure, the MASC has tried to ensure that all relevant information is available and easy to locate for medical academics at all grades. - Paperless Committee
A new paperless committee has been established to reduce paper wastage and allow MASC members to access agendas and papers via secure pages on the BMA website. - Listservers
Both internal and external information is circulated on the MASC listservers for discussion and further dissemination. In particular we have sought feedback from COMAR representatives when developing policy at numerous points in the year – for example in the production of the evidence to the Tooke inquiry into MMC and in confirming the policy direction for ACFs in 2009.
- The recent establishment of a specific listserver for academic trainees also means that we can share information and listen to the views of academic trainees more easily.
- Membership
The MASC has been working towards better identifying medical academic members with the BMA’s membership department. The committee continues to address difficulties in reaching members who may not be classified primarily as academics, are working in an academic capacity, by meeting with the membership department to discuss the way member information is categorised. Members should be aware that there is more than one professional category for BMA membership, and can, for example, categorise themselves as an academic consultant. We would encourage you to ensure that your membership details are up to date. Email membership@bma.org.uk.
Scottish Medical Academic Staff Committee (SMASC)
Academic Training in Scotland
There are three stages to the new Scottish Clinical Research Excellence Development Scheme (SCREDS):
- NES Clinical Lectureships (broadly equivalent to Academic Clinical Fellowships in England and Wales);
- University or Chief Scientist Office Fellowships (broadly equivalent to Clinical Lectureships in England and Wales); and
- Scottish Senior Clinical Fellowships/Clinician Scientist Fellowship Appointments.
Academic training opportunities in all Scottish specialties (including general practice) are completely separate from the MMC application process, and are different from the arrangements in place elsewhere in the UK.
SMASC is disappointed that Clinical Lectureship posts in Scotland are rebadged SpR posts and not new posts, which means the posts will only be advertised as and when NHS vacancies become available within the specialties that have been identified by universities. It has written to the postgraduate deans in Scotland to request further information on the number of SCREDS Clinical Lectureship posts that have been created in their deanery and the specialties involved and the number of these posts planned to be created over the next five years.
Health Research Funding
The UK Government’s Comprehensive Spending Review (CSR) announced on 9 October 2007 that funding for the single health research fund, to be managed by the OSCHR, would rise to £1.7 billion per annum by 2010-11, fully funding the recommendations set out in the Cooksey Report. SMASC is awaiting information from the Chief Scientist’s Office about the implications of the CSR for health research funding in Scotland and for reassurances that funding resources will at least match previous levels.
University Funding
In the spending review, the Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning announced that £5.24 billion in total would be invested in Scotland’s further and higher education, with an extra £100 million capital funding package in 2007/08. Following the announcement, Scottish University leaders expressed disappointment at the amount of funding they would receive, as they had requested a £168m increase in 2007-2008 but received £30m. They also voiced concerns about further investment and that their competitive position relative to universities in England may be weakened. In January 2008, the Cabinet Secretary announced that Universities in Scotland would benefit from an additional £10 million funding boost this year.
Tooke Inquiry into MMC
Following the publication of the final Tooke report, on 8 January 2008, the Scottish Government published its consultation on the proposed action in Scotland to take forward the recommendations: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/01/07144119/0. BMA Scotland’s response can be found at the following link: http://www.bma.org.uk/ap.nsf/Content/tookeconscotresp.
The Scottish Government is undertaking a fundamental review to define the different roles of the consultant, registered specialist, general practitioner and doctor in training, taking as its starting point patient needs and the role to be played by doctors in meeting those needs. This will address what a “trained doctor” delivered service means in Scotland. It is also looking to align the number of trainees with future consultant and GP requirements and is considering how the resulting service gap from such a move will be filled. The review began with two national events entitled “Reshaping the medical workforce” in February and March at which BMA Scotland was represented and the aim is to produce a report for consultation in summer 2008.
Calman Report: St Andrews students completing clinical training in Scotland
The NHS Scotland workforce planning strategy, ‘Better Health, Better Care: planning tomorrow’s workforce today’, published by the Scottish Government on 14 December 2007, outlined the number of undergraduate medical training places available in Scotland and confirmed that 55 students from the 2007 St Andrews cohort would be able to complete their training in Scotland, followed by up to a further 55 in 2008. Beyond this, wider medical workforce analysis would be undertaken to inform undergraduate training numbers for the future. This has effectively put a hold on the number of undergraduate students retained in Scotland from St Andrews at 55 rather than the planned increase to 75 in 2008, and to 100 by 2011.
Undergraduate medical student numbers are considered in the Scottish Government’s consultation on the Tooke report recommendations. The evidence shows that Scotland is moving into a period of oversupply of medical students and changes to the supply of medical students will therefore have to be reconsidered. In its response, BMA Scotland highlighted that aligning medical student numbers with future workforce needs is a very difficult task and decisions should not be made rashly. However, it recognised that, while Scotland has traditionally been a net exporter of medical graduates, the recent medical school expansion elsewhere in the UK could increasingly make such ‘over-production’ undesirable when coupled with a reduction in the number of Scottish training posts. In this light, BMA Scotland considered that the recent decision to freeze the increase in the number of St Andrews students completing their studies in Scotland, pending further review, seemed a reasonable approach to take.
Distinction Awards and Discretionary Points Review
The Distinction Awards and Discretionary Points Review is ongoing. It is expected that the Review Group will finalise its recommendations shortly and a consultation on a proposed new scheme will then be issued.
Annual Meeting with the Scottish Medical and Dental Deans Group
SMASC representatives continue to meet with the Scottish Medical and Dental Deans Group on an annual basis. At the last meeting in September, items discussed included: academic career pathways under MMC, the number of medical academics in Scotland, the clinical placement of St Andrews students, review of distinction awards and discretionary points, and BMA representation with universities.
Welsh Medical Academic Staff Committee (WMASC)
In the 2007-08 session, the main aim of WMASC has been to improve the awareness of the Committee’s remit and work within Wales, based on the observations made on the MASC operations in England and the other devolved nations.
The Committee organised a very successful Conference in November – Pathway to Personalised Patient Treatment. The Conference was opened by Ms Edwina Hart, Minister for Health and Social Services and attended by the key figures from Health in Wales. We hope that this will become an annual event since it generated significant interest from academics.
The first meeting of the Committee was held on 29 January 2008, but since academic members gave their apologies, BMA Cymru Wales agreed to hold meetings in April and June in the format of a short business meeting followed by a Conference. The second meeting of the Committee was held on 21 April at the University Hospital of Wales Cardiff. Professor Derek Gallen, Postgraduate Dean spoke on the ‘The Future of Academic Medicine in Wales’. Twenty senior academic members attended and there was a lively discussion on prospects and potential barriers to the progress of academic medicine in Wales.
The June meeting will be held at Swansea University and in October the Deans of the three Medical Schools in Wales will be invited to address members on the challenges of undergraduate and postgraduate teaching & training, research support, the Walport initiative to increase academic numbers in training and Tooke’s recommendations in relation to medical academics.
Northern Ireland Medical Academic Staff Committee (NI MASC)
In addition to providing representation for those in joint appointments, the NIMASC also represents a small group of GP academics and full-time medical academics.
For joint appointments the issue of job planning remains contentious as the university has agreed to pay no more than 5 programmed activities for teaching and research. There are 3 outstanding joint appointee job planning appeals for 2004/05 identified and the overall view is that an increase of between 1 and 2 programmed activities (PAs) would sort this out for all the joint appointees. The main concern is that even if the appeal is successful, the university will resist implementation. This conflict, along with the significant increase in the number of medical students (without any increase in staffing or resources) is adding to the problems experienced by joint appointment post-holders with regard to allocating sufficient time to teach, write grant applications and supervise research.
Liaison between NIMASC and members of the NI Medical Students Committee (NIMSC) continues and members of NIMSC frequently attend NIMASC meetings. The Chairman is keen to maintain this link with the medical students to exchange information and pursue issues of mutual interest such as the increase in medical student intake at QUB Medical School.
The full-time medical academics (a group employed solely by the University) are also seeking parity with their joint appointment colleagues and NIMASC are actively working on their behalf.
The first ever NIMASC Conference took place on Friday 12 October in the Postgraduate Centre at Belfast City Hospital and the topic was “The future of Academic Medicine in Northern Ireland”. The speakers at this event were Dr Michael McBride, Professor Stuart Elborn, Dr Terry McMurray, Professor Maurice Savage and Professor Michael Rees. There was a good attendance at this event with approximately 50 delegates participating in a lively debate throughout the afternoon.
Staff Supporting the Medical Academic Staff Committee
A number of staff at the BMA provide support to the MASC.
Thanks for all their efforts. They include:
Hospital Seniors Department
Sally Girgis, Committee Secretary
Lucy Cork, Senior Policy executive
Jane Daniels, Executive Officer
Nirmal Chana, Secretarial Assistant
Other BMA Departments
Ursula Ross, Senior Industrial Relations Officer
Tania Fisher, Policy Analyst, Health Policy and Economic Research Unit
Robert Okunnu, Senior Parliamentary Advisor, Public Affairs
Steve Harman, Press Officer, Public Affairs
Erin Dean, Senior Writer, BMA News
If you have an employment related query, please contact the BMA’s employment advice and information line askBMA on 0870 60 60 828, by completing the online inquiry form at
http://www.bma.org.uk/fb.nsf/FDBK?OpenForm&Login&Ref=SMAY-629LLX or by emailing inbox.askbma@bma.org.uk
askBMA is open from 08:30 to 18:00 Monday to Friday, excluding UK Bank Holidays Christmas Day, Boxing Day, New Year's Day, Good Friday and Easter Monday – or days in lieu)
Please feel free to contact the MASC secretariat if you have any further queries on the Committee’s activities or would like to get involved with our work. Email info.masc@bma.org.uk
MASC Annual report (287k)
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