Annual Representative Meeting 2003
Stories from the meeting
Wednesday 2 July
Tough regulation needed for POMs on open sale
Tighter regulation of off-shore web servers which advertise the sale of prescription drugs on the open market is needed to protect patients, doctors agreed.
Milton Keynes GP Kevin Gallagher said the availability of prescription drugs on order via the internet was dangerous because there was no verification of who patients are and no monitoring of the possible side effects after drugs arrive at doorsteps in ‘discreet packages’.
Dr Gallagher said it also placed GPs in a difficult situation when a parent on a long waiting list for neuroleptic medication – used to treat attention deficit disorder and behaviour associated with autism – ‘intimates they know where to go’ to get the prescription drug online.
(Source: BMA News)
BMA's international weight can help in world poverty drive, doctors agree
Doctors congratulated the BMA on completing a strategic grant agreement with the Department for International Development.
They called for the association to mobilise its cross-departmental resources to raise members’ awareness of international development issues, and particularly the role the BMA could play in cutting poverty.
BMA junior doctors committee joint deputy chairman Simon Eccles said the agreement was recognition of the key role of the professional side of the organisation, adding that the BMA carried international respect.
He added: ‘It’s an opportunity to ask the right questions but also to provide some of the answers.’
BMA treasurer David Pickersgill said the agreement was a ‘tremendous achievement’ by the BMA international committee and said resources would be made available.
(Source: BMA News)
Patients in developing countries lose out under trade rules, doctors agree
Patients in developing countries have restricted access to much-needed drugs because of World Trade Organisation legislation on trade-related intellectual property rights, doctors said.
They said this was to maximise the profits of pharmaceutical companies and called on the government to support more generous exceptions to TRIPS [Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights] legislation in health crises within the WTO.
Southampton medical student Andrew Boyd said TRIPs widened the division between the fortunate and less fortunate. It was immoral and short sighted and meant life saving drugs were unaffordable to those who needed them most, he said.
Doctors support alcohol ad ban
Alcohol advertising should be banned in the same way as tobacco advertising because of drink’s damaging effects on health, doctors agreed.
University of East Anglia medical student Leigh Bissett demanded government action to stop the ‘glorification of alcohol’ in advertisements, particularly on television.
He said alcohol was related to thousands of deaths each year and caused more and more people to seek A&E treatment for alcohol-related injuries.
Doctors overwhelmingly backed the call.
(Source: BMA News)
BMA urged to raise awareness of link between HIV/AIDS and poverty
Doctors expressed their grave concern at the high concentration of poverty and HIV/AIDS in many developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.
They called on the BMA to work closely with the Medical Foundation for AIDS and Sexual Health in promoting UK awareness of the global crisis, particularly the link between HIV/AIDS and poverty.
And doctors said the BMA should work with medical associations in the countries concerned on developing lobbying strategies to influence their governments’ policies on addressing these problems.
(Source: BMA News)
Good occupational health a right for all, ARM agrees
Doctors have called on the government to provide consistent, quality assured support systems for healthcare workers and all NHS employees with access to free and independent counselling services.
There is some good occupational health support in the NHS, doctors said, but good practice should be shared and it should be available to all NHS staff.
Doctors also said written information about the management of a needlestick injury and the routes to access appropriate aftercare must be clearly displayed in all clinical environments.
London occupational health consultant Paul Grime said many such exposures went unreported or were reported late.
A call was made for the Department of Health to commission research to explore ways of reducing exposures to blood-borne viruses at work with a view to issuing national guidance.
(Source: BMA News)
Use the skills of medical refugees and asylum seekers, doctors urge
By John Weaver, BMA News
The BMA must continue to pressure the UK departments of health to introduce appropriate measures to use the skills of medical refugees and asylum seekers, doctors said.
They said the many issues and problems raised by the UK benefit and work permit roles needed to be addressed.
Liverpool GP Sabyasachi Sarker said there were about 2,000 such doctors in the UK, many with great experience in their own specialties but added: ‘There are lots of hurdles they have to go through before they practise in the NHS.’
He said investing in this way would provide the NHS with doctors with years of clinical experience.
Devon GP Elisabeth McElderry said these doctors were needed as the NHS was so short of medical staff.
(Source: BMA News)
Doctors reject drug legalisation call
By Lisa Pritchard, BMA News
Doctors have rejected calls for the legalisation of a wider range of drugs.
Retired Cornwall obs and gynae consultant Connie Fozzard made two separate appeals to the ARM.
The first was that some drugs of addiction should be legalised where there is evidence that healthcare may be improved. She said she was particularly referring to cannabinoids for people with multiple scleorsis.
The second was that the range of legal recreational drugs should be expanded beyond alcohol and tobacco. She said the range should then be quality controlled and taxable and would help reduce crime and tackle the health effects of impure drugs.
Miss Fozzard said: ‘This is a serious matter. I am asking for a debate on these issues.’
However after being urged by Fife GP David Sinclair to resist the ‘siren’s song’ of Miss Fozzard’s arguments, doctors rejected her calls.
Science and education wish list
Doctors urged the BMA’s board of science and education to investigate a series of serious health-related issues.
They are:
- The impact of flying on the individual
- Improving refuse management in the UK
- The known causes of obesity in school-age children, the health impact of the increased prevalence of obesity of obesity in this group and the measures that need to be taken to halt this trend
- The problems of access to healthcare and sustainability of services in rural areas.
(Source: BMA News)
Junior doctors fight for decent accommodation
By Mike Foster, BMA News
Junior doctors say they will get tough with trusts that expect them to live in substandard accommodation after receiving unanimous support from the profession.
London specialist registrar in anaesthetics Anne Hunningher said doctors have suffered cockroach infestation, filthy windows and foul-smelling rooms in old and decrepit buildings for too long.
She said she once resorted to video-taping the filthy state of doctors’ accommodation and threatened to go to the media with the story in order to finally get the trust to spend £80,000 on a refurbishment.
She said a recent survey found three-quarters of hospital doctors were not satisfied with their accommodation and the ‘biggest heartsink’ for a doctor working long hours was to return to a dank and dirty room at the end of a shift.
She urged doctors to contact their local authority or local media if they were expected to sleep in such conditions.
Doctors agreed the BMA should lobby the Department of Health to instruct trusts to provide new deal compliant sleeping accommodation for all doctors working at night.
They also condemned the fact some trusts still charged rent for such accommodation, contrary to national guidance.
Lancashire associate specialist in child health Greg Dilliway contrasted the situation with the former Lord Chancellor, Lord Irvine’s £59,000 bill for wallpaper at £350 a roll when he refurbished his official residence in the House of Lords in 1998.
Dr Dilliway said: ‘We do not care where the wallpaper comes from, we just want some wallpaper.’
BMA junior doctors committee joint deputy chairman Simon Eccles also won support from doctors to ‘name and shame’ trusts which have been trying to get junior doctors to sign away their rights to proper accommodation or rightful pay.
Mr Eccles said he knew of a case where doctors were told their tenancy agreement would end with two months notice unless they agreed to sign a waiver accepting the poor conditions of their accommodation.