Speech from the Chairman of the Medical Students Committee
Mr Leigh Bissett
Monday 28 June 2004
Mr Chairperson
Representative Body
Medical Students of the United Kingdom
The medical students committee this year has been faced with many new challenges including the implementation of the foundation programmes, student contracts, the need for improved careers advice from the association, medical school mentoring and the appropriateness of religion in the workplace. These debates and many more have headed the discussions of the national meetings. We have also continued to highlight the problems of student funding and the inequalities in the social and economic make up of medical students in the UK. The MSC welcomes the demographic research undertaken by the BMA which illustrates clearly the concerns the committee has been raising for some time. Medicine is still dominated by students from managerial and skilled backgrounds.
The government’s decision to ignore the advice of the MSC and other student bodies in relation to students` funding will have major ramifications for the widening participation agenda of the MSC. The study of medicine should be about mind NOT money, it should be about a person’s capabilities and commitments NOT their cash.
Our discussions with the higher education minister Alan Johnson were productive but demonstrated the government`s willingness to ignore even their own evidence that shows that the incursion of debt is a major deterrent to entering university. The people these reforms will adversely affect are those who do not come from the higher socioeconomic groups, the very groups that this government has given a commitment to help achieve university places. These reforms will make a mockery of this alleged commitment.
The MSC has continued to work closely with the JDC responding to the proposed reforms to postgraduate education. The foundation programme implementation has been fraught with communication problems, lack of forward thinking and poor consultation but this process has improved as a result of much hard work by both committees. Katie Fletcher of the MSC has collated the medical student opinions regarding the reforms and has produced a Blueprint. This has been circulated to all stake holders in the process and has been warmly received. We intend to continue this proactive attitude to the implementation of the foundation programmes through our involvement with the various committees empowered to move these programmes forward.
The MSC and JDC have also issued joint guidance to all medical students and intend to follow this up with more communication as information becomes available.
The student committee is not introverted in its dealing with national policy and this is shown in our concerns for sexual health campaigns, health education in schools and HIV immigration policies Our close co-operation with the Medical Students International Network (MedSIN) continues to grow stronger as well.
Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to thank both Sally Girgis and Eleanor Babbington for being pivotal in forcing the MSC agenda ever forward and making my role much easier. I would also like to add a special thanks to Dr. George Rae and Dr. David Pickersgill who have attended many MSC events and have the foresight to recognise that students are the bright future of this association. Their support is truly appreciated.
Representative Body, I look forward to the remainder of the debate and ask you accept this as a brief summary of MSC activities in the last year.
Thank you very much.
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