GP representing the UK’s salaried and locum workforce have applied to become an independent branch of practice, Pulse reports.
The split means that the BMA’s Sessional GP Subcommittee has effectively put the General Practitioners Committee (GPC) ‘on notice’, a reporter added.
BMA sessional GPs committee chair Dr Ben Molyneux, standing down, said in a report to the UK LMCs conference: “After a decade of justifying our existence, my committee have put GPC on notice. My committee wants to agree a complete reform of how we collectively represent GPs with fair resourcing and parity of esteem.
“We have applied to become a branch of practice of the BMA to become a negotiating body in our own right. This will take time to process and in the interim, I sincerely hope that we are able to negotiate reforms needed which I’ve been unable to agree without taking this step.
“I hope this gives me the credibility to say that this must be the year of change.
“We can work together to form a reinvigorated profession that is partnership and sessional workers equal in a stake with parity of attention and resourcing and a single, cohesive GP strategy.”
It follows an independent report that found evidence of bullying that contributes to the marginalisation of women and minority ethnic GPs within the GPC.
Through interviews the report gathered evidence of ‘abusive, disrespectful and/or unpleasant language used by some GPs to speak to one another on the ListServers’, an email group used by the committee.
Dr Richard Fieldhouse, NASGP chair, said: “The subcommittee was founded in direct response to sessional GPs setting up the NASGP back in 1997, and since then, there have been two significant changes to the subcommittee in response to its members seeking greater autonomy from their parent committee. I congratulate Ben and his colleagues on making this bold step to finally become independent of GPC.
“There will always be a tension in any professional organisation that seeks to balance a membership that includes both employers and employees or contractors.
“So after nearly 25 years of work, and in light of continuing evidence of bullying, now is the right time to make this change so that the voice of sessional GPs is heard and recognised at the BMA.”
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