Exclusive: Two senior GPs have outlined their case for election to the position of BMA deputy chair, as the nominations closed on Friday 10 August.
GPs Dr Fay Wilson and Dr Kailash Chand have both confirmed their candidacy for the next deputy chair of the BMA, and will face junior doctor Dr Tom Dolphin in the ballot.
The BMA will announce the final list of candidates on Monday, with BMA Council members able to vote on their preferred candidate until the end of the month (31 August).
Dr Fay Wilson, a GP in Birmingham and senior GPC member, said she would serve BMA Council and the wider BMA in the role.
She said: ‘I am flexible, with multiple capacities and I have experience. These are my capabilities and it is the council that will have to decide what the role of the deputy chair is and what are important characteristics to them.
‘For the deputy chair, I don't think you vote based on policies but for capabilities. The chair, and even more so the deputy chair, is the servant of the council.'
Meanwhile Dr Chand is standing on a platform bid to unite the BMA around the common cause of protecting the NHS.
He said: ‘Everyone knows my passion for the NHS. I very passionately feel we should keep our health service and that it should be public, not private. We must unite the profession behind this cause. I am very conscious of, and anxious for, not just GPs, but also junior and staff doctors and the issues they are facing.
‘I would never, ever give up on pensions and I would never, ever give up on NHS reform, or on junior doctors and their right to a job.'
Meanwhile, Dr Dolphin, who has previously spoken to Pulse about the time being right for a junior doctor in a senior position, said: ‘There are several good candidates and those voting know us all well and will decide based on what they know of us and our past performance. Whoever wins, the BMA will have a good deputy chair to support Dr Mark Porter.'
