Top headlines
Hunt brushes off concerns around GP mass resignation
Doctors call for patients to self-certify illness up to 14 days
16:30 It’s started to pour it down with rain here in central London. And for the former RCGP chair, Professor Clare Gerada, it looks as though last night’s rain has taken its toll on her home.
I always wanted an indoor swimming pool – #floodedhome pic.twitter.com/BGiBq1qV9K
— Clare Gerada (@clarercgp) June 23, 2016
15:15 And despite being challenged for his position as chair of the BMA, Dr Mark Porter has been re-elected.
Breaking news from #ARM2016: congratulations to Dr Mark Porter – re-elected @theBMA council chair
— The BMA (@TheBMA) June 23, 2016
12:20 Banning e-cigarettes in public could be ‘damaging’, Public Health England has warned.
Health bosses said that banning e-cigarettes from public places could be ‘damaging and put people off quitting’.
The statement issued by Public Health England came after a medic at the BMA’s annual meeting in Belfast called for the restriction of e-cigarettes in public places.
Rosanna O’Connor, director of drugs, alcohol and tobacco at PHE told the Independent: ‘Vaping is not the same as smoking, second-hand smoke is harmful to health but there is no evidence that e-cigarette vapour carries the same harms.
‘In fact, a ban on using e-cigarettes in public places could be damaging, as it may put off smokers from using e-cigarettes to help them quit.’
11:15 The BMA’s junior doctor committee chair has delivered his keynote speech at the annual meeting this morning – highlighting the ‘challenges that have faced junior doctors over the past year during the contract dispute’.
Dr Johann Malawana told delegates: ‘When we were faced with those completely unacceptable proposals that would have failed to protect us from unsafe hours, failed to stem the recruitment crisis, failed a generation of doctors raising their concerns, we had no choice but to take action.
‘We were strong enough to make the Government listen, to withdraw one red line after another, and to win for our members a number of significant improvements on those original plans – pay for all work done, a robust means to safeguard working hours and financial recognition of weekends.’
“We stood up together, for what we believe in” says BMA UK JDC Chair at #ARM2016@TheBMA@BMA_NI empowering words pic.twitter.com/FLVPyZqar8
— Molly Kerr (@mollykerr17) June 23, 2016
9:35 A senior hospital doctor will make a fresh bid today to topple the current BMA chair Dr Mark Porter.
At the BMA’s Annual Representatives Meeting today, council members will vote on whether to elect Dr JS Bamrah, medical director of Manchester Mental Health and Social Care Trust, or to keep with the status quo, the Telegraph reports.
Dr Porter, who has been in post for four years, recently led junior doctors into the first all-out strike of hospital doctors in the history of the NHS.
