The PLG (patient liaison group) represents patients within the BMA, informs BMA policy, and provides an informed patient view on matters of interest to the medical profession and to patients.
It also highlights areas of patient concern to the BMA, and works alongside BMA committees on behalf of patients, including BMA council, the general practitioners committee and consultants committee.
PLG members come from a range of backgrounds and draw on their knowledge and experience as patients, carers and professionals working in a range of health-related fields.
Our priorities
- Act as a critical friend on issues that concern patients.
- Initiate constructive and robust challenges to decision making and policy development.
- Ensure BMA policy development and related activities include patients' perspective, interests and concerns.
- Help the BMA understand how its decisions will affect patients and carers, and raise awareness of the needs of all patient groups, especially the vulnerable and disadvantaged.
Symposium 2025
PLG Symposium 2025: ‘5,289 men per year - Breaking the silence on men’s mental health and suicide’
Wednesday 30 April 2025, 9:30am – 1:30pm
Virtual event via Microsoft Teams
With 5,289 men lost to suicide in England, Scotland and Wales in 2023, we will explore the gaps in the health and social care system, how factors such as neurodiversity, deprivation, and intergenerational experiences intersect with mental health, the stigma around masculine identity and seeking help, and what actions could drive meaningful change.
The symposium will include keynote speakers, panel discussions, Q&As, and networking opportunities. The event aims to bring together people with lived experience and professionals from different sectors and disciplines to join this important conversation. Attendees will include representatives from patient and community organisations, Royal Medical Colleges, BMA, NHS, and public, voluntary and charity sectors. Speakers on the day will include:
- Mark Brooks OBE, Senior Policy Adviser: Men’s Health and Inclusion
- Dr Samir Shah, Consultant Psychiatrist
- Kelly Stewart, Researcher and Psychotherapist
- Dr Umit Cetin, Senior Lecturer in Sociology
- Melinda Raker MBE DL, Founder Patron of YANA (You Are Not Alone)
- Keith Leslie, Chair, Samaritans in UK and Ireland; Former Chair of Mental Health At Work and Former Chair of the Mental Health Foundation; Author of ‘A Question Of Leadership’ (Bloomsbury 2021); Former partner at McKinsey and Deloitte.
Please contact [email protected] for further information.
Information for patients
Self-care guidance
Self-care encompasses the things individuals can do to protect their own health and manage illness. To help improve patients' understanding of self-care, the PLG has developed a 'question and answer' resource.
Download our self-care guidance
Doctors' titles
The BMA is committed to improving the patient experience. As part of this, PLG has developed a resource for patients to help clarify 'who’s who' in a medical team.
Download our guidance to doctors' titles and roles
Patient and public involvement
Engaged and involved patients are key to achieving a healthcare system that is responsive to their needs and values.
Download our patient involvement toolkit for GPs
Our people
PLG members come from a diverse range of backgrounds, including some with direct patient-based links. The group has seats for eleven lay members and five doctor members who work on a voluntary basis.
Co-Chairs: Emma Beeden & Rowena Skinner
Deputy chair: Elaine Watt
Gregory Baker
Emma Beeden
Kieron Blake
Charlotte Forsyth
Sue Gallagher
Richard Grimes
Dr Raj Khera
Jacqueline Longmore
Charlotte Paddison
Susan Prosser
Rowena Skinner
Naheed Tahir
Elaine Watt
Our meetings
The PLG meets three times a year to discuss the latest issues affecting patients. The meetings are open to PLG members only.
Meeting dates:
- Tues 8 October 2024 (hybrid)
- Fri 17 Jan 2025 (virtual)
- Thurs 29 May 2025 (virtual)
All meetings take place either virtually or at:
BMA House
Tavistock Square
London
WC1H 9JP
For more information email [email protected].
How to join
Getting involved with the PLG gives you the opportunity to shape the BMA's views on key healthcare issues, ranging from patient confidentiality and NHS reforms to organ donation and social care.
There are a few routes into the PLG:
- Seats/term - the PLG recruits up to 12 seats for a three-session term, renewable for a further term of three sessions.
- Timeline - applications open around springtime every three years. The recruitment process usually involves a written application and an interview.
- Eligibility - any patients, careers and lay members who have an interest in health and social equity, diversity and inclusion.
- Seats/ term - the PLG recruits one grass-root doctor member for a three-session term, renewable for one more session on two further occasions.
- Timeline - applications open around springtime every three years. The recruitment process usually involves a written application and an interview.
- Eligibility - any BMA doctor member who shall not have served on the UK or a national council preceding two years or be a candidate for elections to such groups.
One representative from each of the following for a one-session term:
- UK council
- resident doctors committee
- medical ethics committee.
If you wish to join the PLG through the open recruitment process, posts are advertised in our Working at the BMA area throughout the year.
Should you wish to join via any of the relevant committees, please see any running elections on their respective pages.
Previous Symposiums
2024
On Wednesday 1 May 2024, the PLG symposium brought together speakers from across disciplines and backgrounds to share their expertise and experiences on valuing diversity, co-design and intersectionality in health policy formation. The symposium included keynote speakers, panels and breakout group discussions. It brought together people with lived experience and professionals from different sectors and disciplines to discuss the topic.
2023
The 2023 annual PLG symposium took place on Wednesday 26 April and was entitled ‘Avoiding the harm of imprisonment: equity in the CJS, with a focus on women’. The symposium sought to explore health and social inequities within our criminal justice system with a particular focus on women. The event brought together people with lived experience and people working across the field to discuss this important issue.
Get in touch
If you have any questions or would like to find out more about the work of the PLG, email [email protected].
The BMA is working to meet the challenges that women face in the medical profession.
Stand for a BMA committee and be part of this change.