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MTAS and the GMC

Read about our campaign to bring the Architects of MTAS before the GMC Fitness to Practice committee.
 
Petition for signatures
Our letter of referral
The legal background
 
We need to raise funds to support this case. We welcome donations by Paypal, bank transfer or credit/debit cards.
Got a job but don't know where you're going? PDF Print E-mail
Sunday, 29 March 2009
Remedy The Script March 29th 2009
  • Double Standards Challenge - Remedy vs GMC is go!.
  • Fed up with Rota Gaps? Tell your MP
  • The Remedy AGM – Saturday May 9th

Got a job but still don't know where you're going?

Legislation passed in 2003 requires Employment Agencies to notify jobseekers where they will be working and what type of work they will be doing within three business days of a job offer. We have heard that this statutory requirement has not always been followed. Our legal team would be interested in hearing from any individuals who have been personally disadvantaged by delays in receiving this information.

Double Standards Challenge - Remedy vs GMC is go!

Congratulations to all of you who dug so deep and donated to this campaign. You have struck a blow against the reward-for-failure culture exemplified by the MMC implementation. Our letter for application for Judicial Review has just been sent. If you’re kicking yourself that you forgot to donate - there’s still time (we’re a smidgen short of the 20K target so please still donate here. For full details of the background click here

Fed up with Rota Gaps? Tell your MP

Stories of doctor shortages and gaps in rotas are becoming ever-more common. Unfilled posts compromise training and patient care. No one can put a figure on the problem but we know it’s important just from the feedback we are getting. Our DoH sources say that although they are aware that problem exists they are ‘not hearing any noise’ from the shop floor. Alan Johnson - with his finger, as always, on the pulse of frontline care told parliament very recently:-
Incidentally, there is no vacancy problem, as the hon. Member for South Cambridgeshire (Mr. Lansley) suggested. On the last set of figures, we had a 95 per cent. fill rate; there is absolutely no vacancy problem anywhere in the country that I know of.

It is time to make some noise.

We’re asking you to take 5 minutes of your time to write to your MP if you know of this problem in any rotas in your hospital. Many of you used the excellent service http://www.writetothem.com a couple of weeks ago to educate your MP on the EWTD - and more than one of these letters was read out in Parliament. It really works. You go to the site, plug in your postcode and fill in the rest. It takes a second. We would suggest you write “In Confidence” at the top of the letter, and to talk of ‘a rota’ in your hospital, rather than ‘my rota’ (if it is your rota)

Can you also mention the work being done by Remedy on this issue and, if you could, send us a copy of any correspondence you have with your MP (send it to us at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it )

You can personalise the guidance letter below, but better to write your own if you have time -

In Confidence

Dear XXXXXX MP,

I am a doctor working in XXXXX Hospital in your constituency. I am writing to make you aware of a shortage of junior doctors which surpasses the acceptable limits of a professional service. It has arisen as people are leaving posts to move on, leaving vacancies or “rota gaps” that have to be covered by the existing staff as they are not being filled. Most professionals understand that this can occur from time to time in a hospital, but the situation is unsustainable at the moment - and I am concerned from the point of view of stress on the affected professionals, and the negative impact on patients. The effects of a stretched service are, of course, fresh in peoples minds after recent events in mid-Staffordshire. The pressure and onus it puts on junior doctors is totally unacceptable.

The rota most affected is in the Department of XXXXXX having had shortages of doctors for XXXXX months. There are currently no signs that this situation will change for the time being, which is the reason I am writing today. Not enough effort seems to have been made to recruit locum doctors by the trust, but I understand there is also a problem of locum undersupply. I am also worried that the 48 hour week coming in August 1st will further reduce the amount of available doctors (as each individual doctor can work fewer hours potentially creating more gaps). Please be aware that this is an ongoing problem and not a minor blip.

The affected doctors are extremely fed up especially as it damages their ability to care for patients as well negating their ability to gain proper training for the future.

I would appreciate it if you could • Keep my identity strictly confidential

• Alert Alan Johnson to this problem, as I know it is a national, not local, phenomenon

Please ask Alan Johnson for: • An independent national audit to establish the scale of the ‘rota gaps’ problem, and

• An independent enquiry into the reasons for the problem

If you want further information about the problem on a national scale you can refer to the doctors’ campaigning organization RemedyUK www.remedyuk.org which has more details.

Yours sincerely

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The Remedy AGM – Saturday May 9th

The next Remedy Annual General meeting will take place on May 9th at our office near London Bridge. This is a key meeting for us to formulate policy for the coming year. More details to follow.