The Government must listen to doctors and put in the hard work necessary if its 10-year plan for the NHS is to succeed, the BMA has warned.
Speaking at today's special representative meeting, BMA council chair Tom Dolphin (pictured above) said the health service was in crisis and a long-term plan to safeguard its future was ‘not just appealing but essential’.
The first special meeting to be held in more than a decade, the SRM was convened in response to the medical profession’s concerns and uncertainties with the details of the Government’s 10 Year Plan for the NHS.
A survey of almost 3,000 doctors conducted by the association last month found 83 per cent of respondents supported the BMA engaging with the 10-year plan, with a view to improving aspects of it, while only 3 per cent supported fully implementing the plan in its current form.
Dr Dolphin said: ‘Today, as the voice of the medical profession, we will decide whether this plan does, in the words of the secretary of state, have our fingerprints all over it, whether it speaks genuinely to this moment of crisis, whether its remedy is correct or not, even if we agree with this ambition.
‘It is no longer enough to publish a plan; the Government knows it must do the hard work of making these shared goals happen. It must understand the reality on the ground. It must listen to the voices here today.’
He added: ‘If we don’t get this right, in 10 years’ time, we won’t be discussing another plan, we will be lamenting the demise of what was another Labour health secretary’s industrious creation. And if that happens, the old shadows will quickly descend – illness, disease and suffering.’