The FSEC (forensic and secure environments committee) represents the following types of doctors working in a range of secure settings:
- doctors providing primary care in young offender institutions, secure children’s homes or secure training centres in the UK
- doctors providing primary care in forensic psychiatric hospitals in the UK
- doctors providing general forensic medical services or sexual offence medical services in the UK
- doctors providing primary healthcare within immigration removal centres or short term holding facilities in the UK
- doctors providing primary healthcare in UK prisons.
We also represent doctors working as medical examiners, crematorium medical referees and clinical reviewers.
Our priorities
- Continue to establish our role and remit within the BMA and beyond.
- Work with our public affairs and medical ethics teams to influence Parliament in much needed reforms to prisons, policy custody, immigration detention and children being detained.
- Campaign to bring an end to the practice of solitary confinement of children within the youth offending estate, which the Government has published a response to: the Joint Committee on Human Rights inquiry into Youth Detention: Solitary confinement and restraint.
- Represent the wider profession in the Government’s ongoing reforms to death certification in England and Wales, and the implementation of the medical examiner system, which is set to be in place fully by 2021.
Our prison GP email group is a continual source of interest and reference and we encourage any prison GPs (members or non-members) to join this group for much needed peer support in what can be a very isolating job. Contact [email protected] for more information.
Our people
The committee is made up of doctors with a range of backgrounds and experience, who are elected by their peers or appointed by relevant organisations.
Chair: Marcus Bicknell
Deputy chair: Robin Jamieson
The committee is comprised of:
- One doctor providing primary healthcare within immigration removal centres or short term holding facilities in the UK - Alan Mitchell.
- One doctor providing primary healthcare within young offender institutions, secure children’s homes or secure training centres in the UK - Joblu Khan.
- One doctor providing primary healthcare within UK prisons - Shahed Yousaf.
- One doctor providing primary healthcare within forensic psychiatric hospitals in the UK - Marcus Ainsley Bicknell.
- One doctor providing general forensic medical services or sexual offence medical services in the UK - Robin James Jamieson.
- One crematorium medical referee, medical examiner or medical reviewer in the UK - Howard Barnes.
- One doctor providing clinical reviews of deaths in custody in the UK - Elizabeth Sevink
- The BMA GPC (general practitioners committee) member representing secure environments - Wayne Sturley.
- The BMA PFC (professional fees committee) chair - Peter Holden.
- The BMA JDC (junior doctors committee) rep - TBC.
- One doctor providing general forensic medical services or sexual offence medical services (whichever is not appointed by direct election) in the UK, appointed by the Faculty of forensic and legal medicine (FFLM) - Alex Gorton.
- One general practitioner in the UK, appointed by the Royal college of general practitioners’ secure environments group - Craig Sayers.
- One forensic pathologist in the UK, appointed by the Royal college of pathologists - Ralph Bouhaidar.
- One forensic psychiatrist in the UK, appointed by the Royal college of psychiatrists - Alex Acosta-Armas.
- One coroner, appointed by the Coroners society - Christopher Wilkinson.
- Four co-opted seats - TBC.
Take part in one of our free courses designed to give you the right skills to:
- break down equality and inclusion bias (CPD-accredited)
- value difference and inclusivity
- live our BMA behaviour principles.
Our meetings
The FSEC meets three times a year to discuss the latest issues that affect you. These meetings are open to committee members only.
Meeting dates:
-
Thursday 28 September 2023
-
Thursday 11 January 2024
-
Thursday 30 May 2024
Meetings take place from 11am to 3pm either virtually or at:
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JP
How to join
There are many advantages to becoming involved in our committees. You can actively influence BMA policy-making and negotiations, represent your colleagues' voices and develop your leadership skills.
Each committee has a few routes to becoming an elected member. In the case of FSEC, this is:
- Seats/term - every year, elections for seven seats on FSEC take place for a three-session term.
- Timeline - elections take place in June or July.
- Eligibility - all BMA members who meet the specified criteria for each seat are eligible to stand and vote in these elections. The criteria will be specified in the section below when elections are open.
The election section below is kept up to date with details about any running elections, so make sure you keep checking it throughout the year.
Elections
Elections to the Forensic and secure environments committee are now closed.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or are interested in finding out more about the work of the FSEC, please email us at [email protected].
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