>
> 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!
Remember, the scoring system has been worked out by a bunch of politicised doctors negotiating with politicians. The
negotiators on one side have half an eye to their A merit awards, and the other side are well aware of that. So any
'agreement' they come up with will be rubbish for any who genuinely work hard.
Indeed, I feel that a precedent has been set with virtually no discussion.
Here's what your time is worth per hour at overtime rates, like it or lump
it. Although the comparatively small amount of money would be welcome
(£3,250 per annum for 1:2 or 1:1) it values our out of hours disruption
pretty poorly. This weekend I got off lightly; 4 phone calls and actually
in the hospital for about 9 hours, although most of that was Sunday
evening. We are being trapped in the old pathetic ADH scam we suffered in
the 1980s, while those who qualified after us will get nice top-ups as
juniors and will insist on being paid more as Consultants. I don't see the
lost tribe as SHOs, but as a cohort of doctors who qualified between 1974
(or thereabouts) and 1990.
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?
I would. Have absolutely no qualms about playing the system to achieve the result you see as appropriate. I can think of
only a couple of A&E departments where the Consultants would have difficulty claiming they were in band 3. But it's a
pretty piss-poor recompense anyway; £3k equates to about £1800 after deductions. So on a 1:2 you are doing 100 hours
a week on call, and being paid £34.61. That's 34p an hour. That's what you are worth in Band 3.
> 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.
I think it is too late. The only dignified thing is to refuse to descend to their level and send it back incomplete as a
protest, but I doubt many will do that.
Best wishes,
Rowley Cottingham
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