Address by the Chairman of SASC UK
Mr Mohib Khan
"Untold Stories"
Tuesday 29 June 2004
Video clips - the clips below can be viewed in Windows Media or Realplayer. If you don't have Real Player get it here
Video clip – Introduction - Windows Media (916 k) Real Player (853 k)
Voiceover: Three Associate Specialists in Yorkshire. One a highly qualified breast surgeon, one internationally recognised for his pioneering invention – the Gamma Nail and one who worked as a professor in Saudi Arabia . All three unable to reach their true potential – 3 SAS doctors with untold stories.
Video Clip - Windows Media (336 k)
Mr Chairman and colleagues, I am very pleased to be addressing this annual representative meeting for the second time as the Chairman of the staff and associate specialists craft committee. As you can see, this year I want to depart from normal practice at the ARM and tell you some stories. Stories about frustration, about lack of seniority about lost opportunities for doctors and patients alike.
My first example is Pushba Doodani – a highly qualified breast surgeon who started at the bottom rung ,as she puts it, and after 5 years as a registrar in surgery and 10 years in a staff grade job she was finally promoted to Associate Specialist breast surgeon at Rotherham General Hospital. Here’s what happened next……..
Video Clip - Windows Media (945 k) Real Player (922 k)
Video Clip - Windows Media (305 k)
This doctor brings years of experience, expertise and knowledge to NHS patients needing breast surgery but cannot get the recognition or reward to reflect that. Patients who have been referred for a “consultant appointment” see her badge and do not believe that they are seeing the right person.
My next example is Subhash Haldar - an internationally recognised surgeon who has pioneered the development of two specialist nails that greatly improve the success rate of joint surgery. The ‘Halifax Nail’ for fixing femur fractures and the ‘Gamma Nail’ to fix unstable, complicated fractures of the humorous.
Video Clip - Windows Media (130 k)
When Lord Walter Marshall was facing the amputation of his arm – however, one orthopaedics professor showed the x-ray to Mr Halder who said he could operate and save his Lordship’s arm and stop his pain but Mr Haldar faced a problem….
Video Clip - Windows Media (90 k)
And my final story…. Vijay Kumar. A man recognised abroad but not in his adopted country…….
Video Clip - Windows Media (887 k) Real Player (871 k)
Video Clip - Windows Media (694 k) Real Player (681 k)
Video Clip - Windows Media (130 k)
Three highly talented doctors – frustrated , not realising their true potential, not able to become consultants and patients losing out because of it.
These are real examples of staff and associate specialist doctors who are making enormous contributions to our health service but are not giving as much as they could to patients or getting recognised or rewarded for what they are doing. All these doctors have passed their FRCS and been working as specialists in their fields for many years.
These are not isolated cases. The blocks put in the way preventing highly skilled specialist doctors from offering their full expertise to NHS patients and the deskilling of SAS doctors depriving them of their careers and the NHS of their skills are commonplace problems. We need to acknowledge the problems and put in place robust solutions.
These three doctors have had the courage to risk coming forward publicly. Nearly all the cases I come across every day, people are too scared of the possible consequences to be identified. I have met such an associate specialist – an expert laproscopic surgeon. He has the second largest series of cases in laproscopic hernia repair in the northern part of the country, and the largest number of day cases. Part of his work is to train junior doctors in these procedures and consultants also come to him to learn the techniques. He is not on the specialist register and cannot become a consultant. He is on the top of the associate specialist scale having not even received discretionary points in recognition of the specialist work he does. He is paid £60,000 per year. A consultant colleague in his department with a B award undertaking similar work is on £101,686. The pay differential is ever-increasing between SAS doctors and their medical colleagues in the NHS. The review body has, once again, overlooked SAS doctors and we are tired of waiting.
Not only is our group disadvantaged in terms of career progression, recognition and financial reward, many of us are also subjected day to day to bullying and harassment at work. The first motion in our section of the agenda reflects this and I would invite you to listen carefully to the issues raised by the speakers.
I am looking forward to the next year which, I hope, will be our most challenging and exciting yet. We have the chance with the forthcoming reforms and contract negotiations to make some definitive progress with translating our policies and ideas into realities and I ask all of you to help and support us through this. Although I anticipate we cannot agree on everything, I believe everybody here believes that improvements have to be made for the members of our craft.
Thank you for listening to me and I hope that by bringing these stories to you I have helped put a human face to the issues that we have asked the Association’s help to resolve.