My views on the competency of those "negotiating" for
Consultants need to be screened by a libel lawyer
before publication.
I have sought clarification from the BMA secretariat on
the ambiguous areas in the questionnaire (ie most of
the questions.)

In the interim I would suggest that Consultants fill in
the questionnaire in what ever way gives them the
greatest advantage but should attach a note to the
effect that this has been done on the basis of a certain
interpretation of the questions. I suggest writing down
that interpretation and filing it in case changes are
needed later.

In the longer term I intend to try and take a motion of
no confidence in the CCSC Negotiators to the BMA
Conferences. They wont pass it but it just might make
them address the issue properly in the next phase of
negotiations - ie when they try and renegotiate the
whole contract.

Andrew Hobart

>
>The British A&E consultants on the List may be filling
out their Out of >Hours Work Intensity Questionnaire at
the moment. I, like many of my A&E >colleagues, feel
that I have one of the highest, if not the highest, OOH
>intensities in the hospital. So I was disappointed to fill
out my >questionnaire and only score 75 odd points
putting me in Band 1-2! For >scoring see:
http://www.doh.gov.uk/hrbulletin/intensity.htm
>
>I realise the catch however...the DOH base OOH
intensity on four types >of work as follows:
>
>1    the on-call commitment worked by the consultant
>2    expectation of being telephoned/contacted outside
the hospital
>3    expectation of being called back into workplace for
emergency work
>4    work necessarily performed out of hours
>
>My problem is that the work is so intense I can't/don't
go home much >before midnight on my nights on call,
some 7 nights every 28 days. So I >hardly score at all
for points 2 and 3 above, although I score highly >for
numbers 1 and 4 above. But it seems you have to score
highly in all >four areas to get anywhere near Band 3!
The scoring system seems grossly >unfair for those of
us who are effectively resident or near resident >on-call,
as so many points are allocated for phone calls or
returns to >work which we cannot legitimately claim. I
deliberately stay in work >late on my on-call nights to
provide a better service, yet I would score >far higher if
I simply went home and received lots of telephone calls
>and returns to work. Are resident consultants therefore
going to be >penalised or can we count the multiple
consultations as tantamount to >phone calls or returns
to work? Can someone who is also >semi-
resident/resident on-call shed some light on this? Do
BAEM have a >view? Andrew, do you have advice to
offer?
>
>Apologies for the purely political post, but I feel we
need to have a >unified approach to this as a specialty,
and we have only weeks in which >to respond to our
Trusts.
>
>Adrian Fogarty
>A&E Consultant
>Royal Free Hospital
>
>
>