The GMSC will listen if the LMC Conference gives it strong enough messages.
You should all be pressurising your LMCs, and give a definite steer from the
grass roots. The trouble is it is usually very difficult to get consensus
between doctors. Key figures on the GMSC are afraid that if they jump out of
the trenches and look behind, then the troops will not be with them! The
government ( more accurately the senior DoH civil servants who are really
the source of White Paper thinking) is now working rapidly to increase
divisions between professionals on a wide front so as to facilitate the
"divide and rule" approach. There will soon be little prospect of any
coordinated opposition. There are very few medical politicians who are
prepared to lead from the front and recommend tough industrial action. Those
of us who are, are often constrained by the time factor, and partners under
pressure who would rather have an extra pair of hands for evening surgery
than a partner playing politics in London. The GMSC honorarium at £155 per
day doesn't begin to cover locum costs, let alone any financial incentive
for a practice to free up time for a partner to attend GMSC. That is very
short sighted when the money is currently fully reimbursed to the profession
through the indirect expenses mechanism. I have to give up my half days to
attend GMSC. We need another James Cameron, with the vision to realise the
strength of a united profession, get the undated resignations into BMA
House, and stop pretending that tiny concessions are major negotiating
victories! If you can tell me you could get 80% support for undated
resignation in your LMC area, then I will accept your criticism of GMSC. Pay
peanuts and you will get monkeys. ( That goes for general practice too!)
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