----- Original Message -----
From: "Ray McGlone" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, July 06, 2002 3:45 PM
Subject: Re: Consultant Contract
> But, if the Consultant Body does reject the Contract we need to do some
fast
> PR (Public Relations) work with the newspapers and TV. You can imagine the
> headlines "fat cats reject 20% pay increase" .
This worries me.
The PR "war" has been anticipated and (probably) won by the Government/DOH.
On the Today programme, on the day after the contract was released, I
listened to John Humphries giving Alan Milburn a hard time over "giving in"
to the Consultant body over the private practice ban. As Alan Milburn tried
to sound slightly awkward he must have been laughing hysterically down his
sleeve - you have to admire the man (as one might admire the great white
shark).
I have a blacker imagination than you though, Ray, I don't believe the DOH
are after the "fat cats reject 20% pay increase" headline.
I think that this is about the future of the NHS. The headline they are
after is:
"NHS KILLED BY DOCTORS".
I think we will be faced with a choice: accept the contract or be
vilified.
Personally I choose vilification and I'll be there to see my children grow
up.
What a shame that the amateurish and naive BMA negotiators have manoeuvred
the consultant body into such a position.
One wonders why this happened.
Jeremy Harrison
Warwick Hospital
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