THE BMA council is set to hold a crunch vote on holding an emergency representative meeting to decide its stance on the government’s privatising health White Paper, after almost a dozen regional branches have demanded a debate and a vote on the issue.
BMA leaders are under growing pressure to hold a Special Representative Meeting.
Anti-privatisation GPs plan to force through a vote at the January 26 meeting of the council to recall the Annual Representative Meeting so that BMA members will have an opportunity to discuss and reject the Government’s White Paper, as an NHS privatisation plan.
This would bring to an end the current policy of ‘critical engagement’ with the privatisation plan, and would no doubt force resignations from the top BMA leadership.
GPs who oppose health secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans have accused the BMA, and in particular the General Practitioners’ Committee (GPC), of failing to adequately consult with the grass roots in forming policy and even of helping accelerate the reforms.
Lansley attempted to rally support at a meeting of nearly 100 GP leaders in Warwickshire last week, urging delegates to seize the initiative and strongly hinting the health bill, due in the next two weeks, would be intentionally light on regulation.
At least half a dozen regional BMA branches have already voted for an emergency meeting.
If more than 30 of the 200 branches do so the meeting will have to be held within a month.
Last week an open letter to the BMJ, signed by more than 100 GPs and other doctors, demanded the meeting go ahead to give the grass roots the deciding say in the BMA’s stance.
Lewisham division of the BMA last week passed a motion calling for a meeting to ‘fully involve members about these fundamental changes’.
Dr Paul Hobday, Kent LMC spokesperson and a GP in Maidstone, said the BMA Maidstone branch would be holding its vote in the next two weeks.
‘It’s a perfect opportunity to let Mr Lansley know what we think of his policies,’ he said.
A joint response by BMA chair Dr Hamish Meldrum and GPC chair Dr Laurence Buckman to the BMJ open letter said: ‘Our position on the government’s plans is rooted in policies agreed through our democratic processes.’
In their letter to the BMJ, doctors said: ‘In fact, Andrew Lansley’s plans are now even more market based.
‘Within the new Operational Framework for the NHS in England, he is introducing “price competition” into the NHS, which fundamentally changes the NHS from being a “quasi-market” system of fixed prices (tariffs) to a much more open market system.
‘Hospitals will be allowed to charge rates lower than the national tariff, which sets the prices for thousands of NHS procedures and covers roughly half of hospital income.
‘According to Zack Cooper from the London School of Economics, “Every shred of evidence suggests that price competition in healthcare makes things worse, not better”.’
The doctors added: ‘So, despite explicit reassurances from Dr Meldrum and the BMA Council that the BMA would only “critically engage” with the consultation, this does not appear to be in keeping with what the BMA is actually doing.
‘The fact that market based policies have actually been strengthened by Mr Lansley, goes completely against the BMA’s stated policy from numerous Annual Representative Meetings.
‘It is therefore clearly time for the BMA to withdraw its “critical engagement” policy with the coalition government and start to engage properly with the membership.’
