Dr Rant has been putting himself about a bit. Britain's second most popular medical blogger TM is delighted to announce that he has joined the Remedy UK Magazine as a guest columnist.
Remedy UK is a truly extraordinary achievement considering it was conceived by junior doctors staring over the edge of the precipice of the abyss that Modernising Medical Careers was throwing their careers into. The fight continues, but now with a degree of slickness and professionalism that is truly staggering considering that they all have medical jobs and a fraction of the funding available to the BMA.
Dr Rant is proud to support them and play a small part in their endeavours.
Remember, it's free to join......
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14 comments:
Rantmeister for PM!
Perhaps you could start a new party
The:
"RANTMEISTER FOR PM,(but doesn't really want the job)" PARTY
Or is Dr Rant the alter ego of Gordon Brown himself?!
Dr Rant and Mr Brown split personality, would make a great film!
"Dr Rant and Mr Brown split personality, would make a great film!"
You almost wouldn't know which would be Jekyll and which would be Hyde.
National Audit Office factoid
GP average pay up by 58%
In each of the first 2 years of the contract GP's were 2.5% less productive
Put in 7 fewer hours a week than in 1992
No wonder the BMA now loves the NHS even though 89% of the membership voted never to have anything to do with it in 1948.
The pay 'increase' you quote includes:
1. 14% Employer's Superannuation (which used to be paid directly by the NHS).
2. IT funding (which was previously separately funded).
3. Out-of-Hours (OOH) work.
The productivity 'fall' that you document is false because the pre-new contract productivity included OOH but the post-new contract figures excluded OOH.
The new contact had two keep pay points:
1. To increase pay which had fallen relative to comparable professions, and therefore solve the severe recruitment crisis.
2. It allowed, for the first time, GPs to be paid properly for OOH rather than doing it essentially for free.
Counting OOH income while excluding it from productivity to show a rise in one and a fall in the other is the classic behaviour of someone who want's the facts to fit their views.
Add to this the fact that GP practice funding has been frozen for the last three years (and in the case of MPIG practices - the majority of GP practices - the funding will now be frozen for a period of several years to come), and GP income has fallen about 10% per year for the last three years and will continue to fall.
The reason for the fall is that as funding stays the same, but costs go up (staff pay rises, fuel bills, office supplies inflation etc.), the proportion available for 'profit' falls.
Much was made in the press of GP profit share rising faster than funding, but I will bet you any amount of money that the media do not make the same fuss about GP profit share falling once funding is frozen.
Of course, this is just simple economics but lets not let that get in the way of a good headline....
Nhs Is Killing Us! I can't believe you're saying that there's a PR problem! So how do you propose we fix that? I know, lets find a medical blog and call the doctors "murderous theives"! That's sure to improve public relations! ;)
I'm not denying that there is a PR problem.
I'm just wondering why, if you can see that that's a major issue, are you doing everything you can to make doctors look worse?
***Troll Warning***
Can I just remind people not to feed the NIKU-Troll.
So. You (s. or pl) 're going to stop posting here?
ah the real runt has returned.
Interestingly the National Audit office has also misrepresented the situation with polyclinics - using anecdote to come up with their conclusions.
Anecdote to spend millions of pounds of taxpayers money!
I am deeply concerned for our very democracy when this kind of institution can prop up a govt whim to this extent.
This fact alone reduces arguments about NHS to mere trivia. New labour are becoming nothing short of a stalinesque nightmare - no truth but the governments truth. I don't care who you are or what you think about Dr's, nurses or the price of fish and chips I am scared for my very freedom in britain today.
http://notdrrant.blogspot.com/
when you get bored of the rant view of the world
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