Consultant Urologist & Robotic Surgeon. Member of Council RCS England. Editor-in-Chief Surgery International. Court of Examiners. Worshipful Company of Barbers.
Following repeated calls for ethnic and gender parity - can RCSEng adapt? Or is it simply a ‘phylogenetic remnant of a bygone age which spectacularly fails to reflect the needs, or embrace the diversity of its membership’. Read the Annals Editorial
Have just watched this powerful documentary. It is absolutely clear that there would have been no justice for these children had it not been for the strength and emotional intelligence of the seven Paediatricians who were threatened by a toxic management. They make us all proud.
Just a few minutes into my Urology Ward shift and handed this by Sister. Immediately diagnosed an overactive bladder and recommended anti-cholinergics. I could see from the expression on her face she was impressed! Not lost the old touch!!Curiously not had any other calls 🤔
Again … doctors are not there to subsidise the NHS. If we cannot afford THEM then we cannot afford IT. And if that happens you’ll be paying a lot more for your healthcare … one way or another!
Third of UK medical students plan to quit NHS and practise medicine abroad, survey suggests UK is training Doctors for the rest of the world but not for itself. There is a global shortage of doctors and at the very least we need to retain those we train!
Tomorrow morning AI won’t be helping me. All I really need is a computer that turns on in less than 20 mins and a password which I don’t have to enter into x4 different data programs and a dictaphone … and repeat every 8 mins!
We've announced £100M funding to accelerate
#AI
in healthcare & life sciences.
👉 Helping us harness the latest tech to improve patient care and support NHS staff.
👉 AI tools are already having results – helping halve the time for stroke victims to get treated in some cases.
All in the same storm but not all in the same boat. Junior doctors are asking for pay restoration - some from just £14/hour to £19/hour. That’s it. If the government can’t afford that then everyone is going to have to fund their own healthcare. And you really don’t want that!
Junior doctors’ strikes costing NHS £1bn as health minister labels fresh wave of strikes ‘reckless’ - LBC … £32 billion on test and trace. Billions on PPE not delivered from those who now spend winters on yachts in the Caribbean.. and this is reckless? 🙄
Behind-scenes NHS problems leave new doctors without jobs - BBC News … but plenty it would seem for PA’s at much higher rates of pay. This is an orchestrated effort to develop a two-tier system.
'NHS belongs to all of us, not just you', Health Secretary tells striking junior doctors … if that’s the case where were you on Xmas day at 3am at £15/hour
@VictoriaAtkins
? 3 weeks House of Commons recess? We get the NHS we pay for.
Junior doctors’ strikes have ‘fractured’ relationship with consultants, say NHS trusts | NHS | The Guardian … says one anonymous CEO. We can speak for ourselves. Attempts to divide and conquer will not work.
The UK is now officially the worlds largest ‘overseas’ Medical School. Training another 7500 more doctors who will follow their predecessors abroad. Retention is the immediate issue!
You should be able to get a GP appointment when you need one.
Labour will end the postcode lottery for GP appointments, training 7,500 more doctors a year and guaranteeing face-to-face appointments.
Vote Labour on Thursday 4 May to cut waiting times.
Barclay to set out medical school expansion plans - ITV News … until the retention problem is resolved they will be training Doctors for the rest of the world but not the U.K.
Responding to this tragedy, Charlie Massey states “PAs should never be used to fill gaps in doctors' rotas.”
I wonder if the
@gmcuk
can confirm what action it will take against PAs caught working in this way, given the extremely serious risk to patient safety?
Or put another way that’s a 100% pay increase (…. if you add them all up since 1972) 🙄. Still puts you well below the cost of a PA who works 9-5. Know your own worth and reject!
Five-day junior doctors strike begins in England as government urges BMA to be 'reasonable' - ITV News… £20/hr is not unreasonable. And still considerably cheaper than the ‘Physicians Associates’ who were supposed to assist them
@VictoriaAtkins
?
Time for the Royal Colleges to say that NO trainee should be responsible for supervising PA’s. Why should they take responsibility for this ridiculous experiment? Let’s move instead to named Consultant supervisors with legal responsibility. Let’s see how long it lasts then!
The Australian brain drain bleeding the NHS dry … don’t blame Australia! It has always been a great place to work. What has changed is the
@SteveBarclay
push effect! When you can’t pay your rent why stay? It’s not rocket science! It’s Medicine!
NHS senior managers’ pay has risen by 65pc in a decade. … they always tell us we’re in the same storm … but we’re definitely not in the same boat! Oh for the Exec corridor and the Buxton spring mineral water and Exec car park with electric charging 🙄
Bankers' bonus cap scrapped allowing return of bumper rewards. … we are told because they are essential to retain staff. Same does not apply to Doctors leaving to work abroad however! 🙄
Australian officials seek to 'steal' British teachers, doctors and nurses with promise of better life and 80% higher pay - inews …. It’s not stealing it’s just a much better deal than the one they are currently getting.
@MarcusRashford
The only thing more impressive than Marcus Rashford …. is Marcus Rashford’s Mum! Emotional intelligence is something you learn from your parents but never know at the time!
Good article
@bmj_latest
- those working on wards are x2 as likely to test positive for COVID than those on ITU. The difference? Appropriate PPE. Despite this the ‘experts’ who go unchallenged by our Royal Colleges continue with their ‘paper doily’ advice on face masks.
Fantastic Thomas Vicary Lecture by
@ProfNoelFitz
and his message of
#onemedicine
. So much to learn from advances in veterinary medicine and surgery. The first veterinary surgeon to give the lecture in 100 years
@RCSnews
thanks to our hosts
@Barbersurgeons
When the ‘junior’ doctors win (and they will) their industrial action they will then have to start all over again with the Consultant contract as they progress in their careers because their current senior colleagues did not have the ability to look beyond a short term gain.
Really wish
@SteveBarclay
would get on and negotiate with
@BMA_JuniorDocs
because some of us are waiting to start our own industrial action
@BMA_Consultants
… there’s a bit of a queue starting! Not sure how the NHS can fit in nurses, junior doctors, Consultants etc?!
@DrLou83
I seem to remember a North London Consultant being told he no longer had a car-parking permit. The next day he rode his horse into work and tied it up outside the Emergency Department. His permit was returned before the end of the day. If you know you know!
NEW: This week’s tube strikes have now been suspended.
Londoners and visitors to our city will no longer face several days of disruption.
This shows what can be achieved by engaging with trade unions and transport staff rather than working against them.
It’s a new 6-week training scheme for Doctors. They won’t be the same calibre as those who have gone before them but that doesn’t matter. This is KFC bargain bucket medicine care of
@RishiSunak
The NHS Long Term Workforce Plan sets out the path to double medical school training places to 15,000 by 2031, with more places in areas with the greatest shortages.
Find out more. ➡️
Striking junior doctors look more greedy and entitled than ever This is an appalling level of journalism. Remember (now and for the future) other Newspapers are available.
Trust ‘forced out’ senior doctor who raised safety concerns | News | Health Service Journal … standard approach to whistleblowers! We keep hearing that this has to change but never does. On your long list of things to do
@wesstreeting
Let’s be clear. Managers are less concerned about reputational damage to the organisation and more concerned as to how patient safety concerns may impact on their own career trajectory. They are more than happy to weaponise GMC referrals to this end to squash whistle-blowers.
Speaking of the NHS's abhorrent treatment of whistleblowers, Usha Prasad — a cardiologist turned whistleblower at Epsom & At Helier — is now facing a cost order to repay the Trust's £180,000 costs!
NHS leader warns of widespread weekend disruption as doctors continue strike - ITV News … Schrodinger’s Doctor - simultaneously too important to take industrial action after a 20 month dispute but not important enough to pay more than £15/hour 🙄
Militant doctors' union boss lives in luxury £1.4m countryside mansion The Sun - I think any doctor planning to sell their house should join the BMA. You get a really positive valuation and free advertising!
@DrPhilBanfield
@trentconsultant
You can still negotiate. The government continued to talk to the Barristers whilst they were on strike. You choose not to. And whilst you continue to make those choices doctors will continue to strike and their senior colleagues will continue to back them.
When there are no NHS Dentists left NHS dental care effectively ceases. No big announcements. If the junior doctors lose their campaign for pay restoration …. See how it works? That’s why
@SteveBarclay
is hunting Easter eggs rather than junior doctors to talk to this weekend
More than half a million back petition to strip Paula Vennells of CBE over Horizon scandal after Mr Bates vs The Post Office … Interesting that she was later appointed to a senior NHS role. Her transferable skills included silencing whistle-blowers 🙄
There was a massive electoral turn out and a 98% vote for strike action. This is not the tail wagging the dog. This is a very angry majority who cannot pay off their loans or pay the rent. Ignore the virtue signalling from the independently wealthy who never paid University fees!
Doctors are starting to raise questions about whether their firebrand leaders, elected after a takeover of the union by pro-strike doctors, have the skills to compromise and secure a deal
Following epic fail with ECG I have been re-purposed for clinical reasons! I have now been dispatched to the front line with Krispy Kreme Donuts! Will now and forever more be known as ‘Tim the doughnut boy’ by the team! (Disclosure: frequently referred to as a doughnut anyway)
@mancunianmedic
Watched an interview with previous Medical Director (now moved on) who was advised by her predecessor to refer the Paediatric Consultants to the GMC because of their repeated calls for action. Defending the Trust against reputational damage was more important than patient safety
In a nutshell
@MarinaPurkiss
… at least someone seems to get it! This will be remembered by all those currently being vilified (and remember they are the ones who haven’t left yet!!)
Surgeon hit with £70 hospital parking fine as he rushed to 'save patient's life' - The Mirror … for anyone working in the NHS this will not be news. Just a Wednesday.
In Urology there are 100 unfilled Consultant posts. Applications to Medical Schools are falling, junior doctors are choosing to train abroad or leave to other professions and changes to the pensions scheme are effectively encouraging early retirement. A perfect storm is brewing!
If I remember correctly he also once described Jeremy Hunt in an on-line spat ‘as perhaps the densest object in the known universe’ in a change to his previously cited conclusions about Time and Space.
"When politicians & private healthcare industry lobbyists claim we cannot afford the NHS, this is the exact inversion of the truth. We cannot afford not to have the NHS”
- Stephen Hawking, keynote speech at the Royal Society of Medicine, 19 August 2017
@mrjamesob
Consultant pay has fallen by 35%, and we’re leaving the NHS in droves.
Watch
@thomasdolphin
explain why we’re on strike in England today 👇👇👇
#ConsultantStrike
NHS staff must be able to blow whistle, Health Secretary says - So how are you going to control Hospital Executives? Identify a baby killer in the Department? Threatened with GMC referrals and forced to make a written apology. That is today’s reality!
The recent pensions debacle has forced many surgeons to cut their hours .. with many spending more time with their families and achieving a better work life balance. Pandora's Box is now well and truly open
@goldstone_tony
Read the Editorial
@RCSnews
this month
Jeremy Hunt urged to cut taxes at autumn statement after £15bn windfall - The Times and The Sunday Times … but not settle the NHS pay dispute of course. There is money to resolve the dispute. The government chooses not to.
Council elections are now open 🗳️
There are 41 passionate and qualified candidates hoping to secure your vote for one of 8 key positions on our Council.
Now is your chance to have a say in who will represent you. Cast your vote by Thursday 4 April:
Wrapping up the MRCS exams after 11 days with fellow supervising examiner Karl Trimble and Head Examiner Wyn Parry. Socially distanced and safe! Fantastic organisation by the exams team
@RCSnews
. Good luck to all the candidates who have sat the exam over the last 2 weeks!
Health secretary accuses nurses of ‘taking money from operations’ with pay demands … since when were health care workers responsible for funding the NHS. I thought that was through general taxation (excluding hedge fund managers and Tory donors )
NHS whistleblowers need to be better protected by the law, says BMA The list of whistleblowers who have had their careers blighted continues to grow. Toxic management puts defending reputational damage before patient safety and are never held to account
So
#Labour
MP Chris Bryant has stated MPs should be given financial help to pay for childcare because they have to attend the House of Commons on a Saturday.
Surely they can just about cover this with their £79k salary? 3 Saturdays in 70 years and MPs ask for financial help.. 🙄
Exclusive: GMC admits error in taking apology as admission of guilt You put your left foot in, you put your left foot out, in out, in out, you shake it all about. You do the Hokey Cokey …. you get the point.
Emotional intelligence and intellectual humility are the key ingredients for effective team working. They are often absent in dysfunctional teams. Access the latest edition of the Annals ... available via the
@RCSnews
App right now!
Don’t be a plonker Steve! You are not going to win this one! A 35% pay-cut and further managed reductions in salary on the horizon are the line in the sand. You won’t negotiate because it’s all part of your plan to run down the NHS and allow your business mates to take over.
I urge NHS staff to do what most unions are recommending: to accept this breakthrough pay offer.
This means we can start to put this disruption behind us and focus on what the NHS does best – providing high quality care to the nation 👇
We can't take any more, says NHS as doctors strike … the government thinks that some are not worth more than £14/hour. If their contribution is not worth more than this then find someone else to do their job. But there isn’t anyone else is there?!
‘They look for a scapegoat’: a surgeon’s battle to clear his name An honourable man who was treated appallingly badly. No single issue has vexed the profession more in recent years!
Congratulations to Neil Mortenson ... the newly elected President of the Royal College of Surgeons who takes over the reins
@RCSnews
in July
@mortensen_neil
Congratulations from all of us at the Annals team!
UK financial regulators scrap cap on bankers’ bonuses … to encourage retention. Same does not apply to Doctors pay however! They continue to leave the country worsening the staffing crisis! £14/hour. Barely above minimum wage.
Many thanks to anyone who supported me with one of their votes. Commiseration to those who were unsuccessful this year - I hope you stand again next year. Looking forwards to July and a re-focus on the needs of the Membership!
Welcome to your newly elected Council members. Congratulations to
@deboraheastwood
,
@MrTimLane
, Clara Vella,
@FranciscaFFerr
and Professor Lynda Wyld, who will begin their terms this July - and Professor Frank Smith, Rachel Hargest and
@IanLoftus2
, who have been re-elected.🧵
Birmingham hospital trust declared war on me - surgeon …. a toxic hospital management using the
@gmcuk
as a complicit tool to suppress staff from raising concerns. Will we see the management brought to account? Of course not … onwards and upwards
Leaving the traditional glass of brandy and mince-pie by the chimney (and a carrot for Rudolph of course). Also left a lateral flow test out for Santa to complete before his delivery as we’re in Tier 4!
Experiences from France, Italy and the United Kingdom about Emergency Surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic. Free access to the review article in the Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
@RCSnews
@DrRaviJ
@DrAsifQasim
They will continue to attempt to re-write the narrative over the coming months to deflect from their glaring failure. Stay strong!!