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Latest News From RemedyUK A huge thank you to the 12,000 who made the London and Glasgow events such a success. The presence of everyone from medical students to retired professors from all over the UK in one place was a source of strength for everyone there. Another thank you to all of you who have donated so generously to our running costs and legal war chest. Our current funds are around 18,000 after march expenses. We will publish our accounts shortly online. As was agreed universally, the march is only the beginning of a process in which our whole profession starts actively engaging in its future. There is not even time to stop and reflect on what a lovely day we all had. Every day sidetracked by the Committee of Fudges is another victory for the DoH. We must move forward. RemedyUK Past Monday: Hewitt is summoned to the Commons by Cameron to answer emergency questions on MMC and MTAS. Please visit our site for a transcript of this illuminating Q+A. http://www.remedyuk.org/page53/page53.html Tuesday: RemedyUK go to Westminster to brief 30 MPs on the situation. Present : Shadow Health Secretary (Lib Dem and Conservative) Shadow Health Ministers (Lib Dem and Conservative). We are assured of cross-party support. Royal College of Surgeons President Bernie Ribeiro sends out a ballot of all members of the college asking whether they think MTAS should A) continue B) be modified (as in the current fudge) C) scrapped and return to local appointments immediately. Over 80% go for C. He threatens to withdraw from the Committee of Fudges. He fails to withdraw from the committee? Wednesday: Andrew Lansley (Shadow Secretary of State for Health) writes a letter voicing some concerns discussed on Tuesday and asks Hewitt to clarify inconsistencies in her statement on Monday. We await her response. Thursday The Committee of Fudges new compromise gives all applicants their first choice interview. RemedyUK rejects this without reservation. The rules of a race cannot be changed half way through. Many objections; here are 3 â?¢ There is absolutely zero possibility for a level playing field when i)the interview panels are different, ii) the interviews will be completely different in nature iii) the panellists will know the interviewee didnâ?Tt secure an interview first time round iv) CVs, often previously un-scrutinized, will now be a focus of the interview. The limitations of a single one shot interview in a single region for a career that spans the rest of your life takes the process to a new level of absurdity and illegitimacy. Nothing has been mentioned of the shortfall of training posts, which seems to be expanding every day. Do not forget that few people with interviews will now get a job. The rest, as stands, are professionally doomed. The BMA walked out of the committee in protest at this latest offering. RemedyUK Future At RemedyUK we try to avoid melodrama, but the next month is one of the biggest crossroads the profession has had to face in its history. If MTAS/MMC goes through in its current dangerous and un-validated form then the unified voice of a profession will have been ignored and we can look forward to a future without the ability to exercise our own opinion. At that point we will no longer be a profession, but a trade. It's our last chance to stop it. We have a new wave of plans coming to fruition at RemedyUK. As always we split our goals between Political, Collective Action, Legal and Media. We urge you to engage yourselves, your peer group and especially your consultants to participate, and make them understand that it goes way beyond the inadequacy of a computerised selection process. It will affect everyone in the future. Political - We will stage a Mass Lobby in parliament. This democratic institution of parliament allows constituents to turn up to parliament on a pre-determined day and all the MP have to go downstairs to receive questions. It causes an immense spectacle in the chamber for the media and will be embarrassing for Government. The proposed date is currently April 25th. It would involve 2 or 3 constituents of a given MP turning up to Westminster, requiring at least 1,000 of us to turn up in total. Please be prepared to come to parliament on behalf of your profession. Further info to follow. Legal Theres been a lot of talk about the legal challenge. It would appear, unsurprisingly, that there are aspects of this process which are unlawful. We have a meeting this week to decide on the way forward. We are aiming to formalize a challenge within a week if it is possible. At an individual level there is an attached legal pack provided by a friendly employment lawyer. This will give you a personal opportunity to exercise your right to fair employment practices. We urge you to read this and follow the instructions if you agree with the principles. It will have a huge impact. Collective Action 1)WE ARE PREPARING A MAJOR COURSE OF ACTION FOR THE PROFESSION. We are excited about it. It is safe, requires trust and confidence and we think the profession is ready for it. The march showed us how strong we can stand together. We are going to work on the detail in the next couple of days. Then we will let you all know about it. Please let everyone you know be aware that there is something being planned. 2) We need our professional bodies to be aware that the continuation of MTAS, in whatever fudged form, goes against the will of the vast majority of doctors. They will not listen to juniors as they have shown. They will listen to consultants. Please force your consultant to read and react to the attached letter. Media The March media coverage was pretty poor other than Sky News and C4. Recent good articles include Saturdays Daily Mail and Telegraph. MTAS is in a media lull currently; we need new stories with a different way to get published and keep the pressure up. Please give us any interesting new stories to feed. We have documentary filmmakers October films working with us and ongoing interest from Panorama. Case studies are always like gold dust so please step forward (with your contact details) Summary: Four things to keep up the pressure this week. 1) Give the attached letter to your consultant, and ask them to read it and write/email their college. Tell them how important it is to act now. 2) Download the 2 employment law attachments. Read through the background then just cut and paste the pro forma letters to the relevant addresses. 3) Keep 25th April free for the mass lobby in parliament 4) Recruit someone to Remedy. We are hitting 10,000 now. Safety as a profession is in numbers. Lets double it. Forward this to someone and get them to register http://www.remedyuk.org/page5/page5.php Two things to make you smile: http://www.remedyuk.org/page55/page55.html http://stablesound.co.uk/mp3/studyfornothing_radio_edit.mp3 Thanks Attachments The
Script - Printable Copy
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