An agreement was finalized between the government, employers, unions and professional bodies to modernize the National Health Service pay system. The new system would be implemented from 1 December 2004. The NHS minimum wage would be increased to 5.69 an hour; and all staff would receive a 10 per cent pay increase over three years.
Source: Agenda for Change: Final agreement, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Agreement (pdf) | DH press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Nov
A report said that doctors needed to be more responsive to patient and public expectations, and play a more active role in improving health services. In return they should be able to expect government and managers to allow them to exercise their judgement over clinical priorities, and be given a greater role in managing and redesigning health services.
Source: Rebecca Rosen and Steve Dewar, On Being a Doctor: Redefining medical professionalism for better patient care, King s Fund (020 7307 2591)
Links: Summary (pdf)
Date: 2004-Nov
A report said that appointment and promotion to academic medical posts was often based on rigid traditional lines, discriminating against many women and anyone who had to work more flexibly. Despite women making up 60 per cent of the medical student intake, there were no female heads of medical schools, and only a handful of women in senior academic positions.
Source: Women in Academic Medicine: Challenges and issues, British Medical Association (020 7387 4499)
Links: Report (pdf) | BMA press release
Date: 2004-Oct
An article said that National Health Service hospitals had become increasingly dependent on doctors who had trained abroad, particularly in areas where posts had been hard to fill. Doctors who had trained abroad represented nearly a quarter (24 per cent) of consultants appointed since 1991.
Source: Michael Goldacre, Jean Davidson and Trevor Lambert, 'Country of training and ethnic origin of UK doctors: database and survey studies', British Medical Journal, 4 September 2004
Links: Article (pdf) | BMJ press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Sep
On 1 August 2004 the European Working Time Directive was applied to doctors in training for the first time: it protected them against working more than 58 hours a week, and entitled them to 11 hours of rest in every 24-hour period. A survey for the Guardian newspaper found that most National Health Service hospitals in England would find it difficult to comply with the directive: replies from 75 NHS acute and specialist trusts showed that 53 per cent expected difficulties in cutting the juniors' hours as required.
Source: The Guardian, 30 August 2004
Links: Guardian report
Date: 2004-Aug
A think-tank pamphlet (by the Health Secretary and the Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality) said that further radical reform was needed for the National Health Service to meet the needs of black and Asian communities and the aspirations of its diverse staff.
Source: John Reid MP and Trevor Phillips, The Best Intentions? Race, equity and delivering today s NHS, Fabian Society (020 7227 4900)
Links: Summary | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jul
A government consultation document outlined the key equality and diversity challenges facing the medical workforce over the coming five years.
Source: Sharing the Challenge, Sharing the Benefits: Equality and diversity in the medical workforce, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document (pdf)
Date: 2004-Jun
A report said that 59 per cent of applicants to medicine in 2003 came from managerial and professional backgrounds, and there were marked differences in medical school acceptance rates between ethnic groups and social classes. The findings were supported in two articles.
Source: The Demography of Medical Schools: A discussion paper, British Medical Association (020 7383 6164) | Trisha Greenhalgh, Kieran Seyan and Petra Boynton, '"Not a university type": focus group study of social class, ethnic, and sex differences in school pupils' perceptions about medical school', British Medical Journal, 26 June 2004 | Kieran Seyan, Trisha Greenhalgh, and Danny Dorling, 'The standardised admission ratio for measuring widening participation in medical schools: analysis of UK medical school admissions by ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and sex', British Medical Journal, 26 June 2004
Links: Report (pdf) | BMA press release | Article (1) | Article (2) | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jun
A report said the careers of doctors were being blocked because of discrimination based on disability, ethnicity, sexuality, and gender. Discrimination was widespread throughout the National Health Service, and not enough was being done to tackle it.
Source: Career Barriers in Medicine: Doctors experiences, British Medical Association (020 7383 6164)
Links: Report (pdf) | BMA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Jun
A report said that doctors who gave up careers in medicine did so because they felt undervalued by the National Health Service. A lack of professional and emotional support, coupled with an unacceptable work-life balance, could make working in the NHS 'intolerable'.
Source: Lorelei Cooke and Antonia Chitty, Why do Doctors Leave the Profession?, British Medical Association (020 7383 6129)
Links: Report (pdf) | BMA press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Apr
A survey found that 75 per cent of National Health Service staff reported routinely working more than their contracted hours, including 12 per cent reportedly working more than 10 hours of overtime in an average week. 73 per cent of staff said that they were generally satisfied with their jobs, and 63 per cent thought their employer had a positive attitude towards providing a good work-life balance for staff. But 15 per cent of respondents reported experiencing physical violence at work in the previous year, usually from patients/clients or their relatives.
Source: NHS National Staff Survey 2003, Commission for Health Improvement (020 7448 9200)
Links: Summary (pdf) | CHI press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Mar
The government began consultation on the extension of statutory regulation to healthcare support staff.
Source: Regulation of Health Care Staff in England and Wales, Department of Health (08701 555455)
Links: Consultation document (pdf) | DH press release
Date: 2004-Mar
An article warned that a series of reforms had resulted in 'less and less time' to train the next generation of surgeons. Reforms introduced in 1993, together with the European Working Time Directive, had reduced training from 30,000 hours to an estimated 8,000 hours, and the Chief Medical Officer was proposing to reduce this even further to 6,000 hours.
Source: Joanna Chikwe, 'No time to train the surgeons', British Medical Journal, 21 February 2004
Links: Article | BMJ press release | Guardian report
Date: 2004-Feb
